Coinciding with International Women’s Day, the World Emunah Women’s Leadership in Israel Conference celebrated 90 years since the establishment of Emunah Israel. The event, held on March 6 at the Nefesh B’Nefesh Jerusalem Aliyah Campus, highlighted female movers and shakers from across various sectors of Israeli society.
Conducted in English, the conference was “a major event that showcases how World Emunah promotes women, particularly immigrants, to strive for leadership positions in Israel,” Tema Klausner, president of World Emunah, told JNS in an interview.
“World Emunah has two mandates: to improve the lives of the Jewish people in Israel, together with our supporters from around the world, and to represent religious Zionist women on the world stage,” Klausner said. “We are independent members of the World Zionist Organization, Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, the Jewish Agency for Israel and Keren Hayesod.”
Emunah Israel, a leading social service agency with more than 100 chapters across the country, was founded in 1935 “to deal with the challenges of contemporary society.”
“There’s Emunah Israel, also known simply as Emunah, and the organization I lead is World Emunah,” Klausner clarified. “World Emunah is the umbrella organization that was founded in 1977 to join all our supporters around the world to work together.”
President Herzog’s grandmother
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s grandmother was among the founders of Emunah nine decades ago.
“My beloved grandmother, Rabbanit Sarah Herzog, was a true feminist and recognized the vital role of women in the Jewish community and in the founding and building of the State of Israel,” Herzog told JNS.
“As a founding mother of Emunah, she deeply believed in the importance of social welfare and community support. The organization grew and flourished, achieving remarkable success. As her grandson and as the 11th president of the State of Israel, I take great pride in Emunah’s ongoing contributions in Israel and throughout the Jewish world.”
JNS asked Klausner about the organization’s focus back then and, in comparison, the main social challenges it faces today.
“The original focus in their contemporary society was pre-war Palestine,” she said. “Their focus was on saving children. Children came here from Europe and Arab countries as orphans, or their parents couldn’t come with them, and Emunah saved their lives.
“It was life and death. They established children’s homes, provided food and shelter, and tried to create some kind of home life for these children to relieve some of their trauma.
“As the State of Israel progressed, the challenges grew and changed. I would say that today, our focus is more on how to create and support a thriving society through all the Emunah projects.”
Aside from the 12 counseling and therapy centers across the country, World Emunah projects today include daycares, residential children’s homes, high schools, colleges, adult education, crisis centers and women’s shelters, among other initiatives.
‘Out-of-the-box thinking’ post-Oct. 7
Since Oct. 7, 2023, World Emunah has faced extraordinary challenges due to the nationwide trauma and the war effort. Klausner described some of the initiatives taken since the start of the current war.
“World Emunah has always had a large focus on therapy,” she said. “We have all different kinds of therapy: horse therapy, gardening therapy and more. Of course, since the war began, the need has grown exponentially. I think that, for the first time, our therapists have experienced the same trauma as the people they’re helping. It’s a huge challenge.”
The head of one of the therapy centers who lives in southern Israel told Klausner that she was doing her best not to expose herself to the details of the brutality of the attacks on Oct. 7.
“Like so many of us, she felt that it was better for her mental state not to know,” Klausner said. “But what could she say to someone who comes for therapy and starts talking about what happened to her? The therapist must hear it. She must help this person. So, the Emunah therapists had to come up with a method that would enable them to do their jobs.
“I don’t know how they did it, but they did such a good job that the city of Sderot,” which has experienced huge trauma not only since October 7, but also for many years prior, “had them teach their own therapists at the welfare centers about how to be better therapists, having undergone their own trauma.
“It’s unbelievable what we’ve suffered,” Klausner reflected. “I think that besides this incredible, out-of-the-box thinking, we’re also especially focused on trying to maintain routine for ourselves and for the children who we help in the children’s centers, in the daycare centers, and in the high schools. When you have your routine, it helps so much with healing.”
Klausner, who made aliyah in 2009 from Passaic, N.J., has served as World Emunah’s president for more than two years. “I’ve been involved in Emunah for a very long time, although not World Emunah. In America, I was involved in Emunah of America; I was the president of our chapter,” she said.
“To me, the most impactful—the project I love most—is the Neve Landy Children’s Village, a residential home for boys in Even Shmuel in southern Israel. Many of them had been hospitalized in psychiatric institutions, and they would be lost if they weren’t with us. We’re like their last hope. It’s a unique place.
“There are 75 boys with a very high ratio of staff to boys. Some were traumatized; others had psychiatric problems. They range from six years old to army age, and even then, there are apartments for boys who graduated. You can’t just let go of people.
“Some of these boys have a home to go back to, but it isn’t necessarily a home they could function in. There are boys who had no hope left for themselves. But everyone who leaves there has become the maximum that he could be, whatever that may be. Many of them go on to be soldiers in the IDF—not necessarily combat, but they enlist, and they’re very proud to enlist.”
Klausner described the deep commitment of Neve Landy’s staff and volunteers, especially since Oct. 7.
“It’s a very high male staff population, and on Oct. 8, they were almost without staff. Everyone was called up. So, what happened was that anyone who had been affiliated in a way that could be helpful came to help. We had volunteers filling in until they could figure out what to do. It was just incredible.
“Neve Landy is in the south, and it was very frightening to be there at that time,” she continued. “On Oct. 8 and 9, the director picked up boys who had gone home for the holiday [the Hamas-led invasion took place on Simchat Torah] but wouldn’t be able to stay there long-term. If the parents couldn’t deal with them in a normal situation, they certainly couldn’t deal with them now. So, he drove in his own car, putting his life at risk, to get these boys back to Neve Landy.”
Women empowering women
“We are proud to sponsor and participate in this conference that encourages women to hone their talents and embrace opportunities to lead,” said Stephanie Strauss, executive director of Yeshiva University in Israel. “The core pillars of Emunah resonate deeply with me on a personal level and with many of our YU alumni in Israel. Channeling those values through the voices of women in leadership roles are the highlight of this conference.”
Naomi Maryles, managing director of the global law firm DLA Piper, explained what inspired her to participate in the panel. “First, I am grateful to all the organizations who are involved—from YU, where I was an undergrad, to Nefesh B’Nefesh, which made my family’s aliyah process as smooth as possible, to World Emunah, which focuses on providing support and care to vulnerable populations in Israel, to World Mizrachi, whose goal is to strengthen the connection between the Jewish community worldwide and Israel.
“All these organizations are providing opportunities and assistance to Jews all over the world, and their work is critical.
“Second, I believe that women’s leadership is crucial for fostering diverse perspectives and driving innovation. By sharing my experiences and insights, I hope to empower other women to pursue leadership roles, especially in the Jewish olim community, which is obviously close to my heart.”
All funds raised by World Emunah in the Diaspora are spent inside Israel. “We don’t have any projects outside of Israel, but we do impact outside of Israel,” Klausner said. “We have strong connections with our member organizations. We impact them by helping them be a part of Emunah, and especially now, with all the new challenges facing those communities since October 7. Also, we represent them on the world stage.”
Asked if she had a special message for readers, Klausner said: “My mother was a great role model for volunteering. I would say the most important thing is to just do it. You don’t have to be wealthy, and you don’t have to be brilliant.
“All you need is a pure desire, a true desire, to help the Jewish nation, and you’ll be successful at whatever you do. If you can’t do X plus Y, it’s OK to just do X or Y. It doesn’t have to be big, but every little thing makes an impact. Just get involved; Just do it!”