For two days near the Netanya beachfront this fall, 60 Ethiopian Israeli women who served in the reserves or whose partners served in the reserves during the Israel-Hamas war had a rare opportunity to decompress. At a “mind-body” retreat organized by Empowering Ethiopian Women, the women meditated, wrote, danced, and even participated in a therapeutic ice-bath workshop designed to enhance mental resilience, release tension, and improve overall physical and emotional health.
“This retreat was not a ‘spa’ or a luxury experience,” explained Orly Tasma, Empowering Ethiopian Women’s director of programs and partnerships. “It was a deep, community-based therapeutic space to allow women to process the fears, anxieties, and emotional burdens accumulated over an incredibly long and difficult period.”
“This experience was specifically created following two challenging years during which the mental well-being of women, children, and entire families underwent profound upheaval,” she added. “Even as the immediate crisis subsides, many women have yet to find a single moment for themselves, and this retreat was born to meet that urgent need.”
One participant, in her evaluation at the end of the retreat, wrote: “Emotions are like waves: I cannot prevent them from coming, and they surface as a reaction to different experiences. But I can certainly choose which emotion to surf and how to respond to what arises. Like waves, emotions come and go. Looking inward at these feelings, whether fear, anger, or any other emotion, helps us process them with awareness.”
A Hadassah Foundation Core Israel grantee (2025-2028), Empowering Ethiopian Women is one of the few Ethiopian-led feminist organizations in Israel. It offers specialized programs to foster self-confidence, as well as to improve participants’ career readiness, financial literacy, and communication and negotiation skills.
Enjoy photos from the retreat below and watch a video on the Hadassah Foundation’s Instagram page. All photos are by Shlomi Lakau for Empowering Ethiopian Women.
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- Participating in a relaxation exercise at a retreat run by Empowering Ethiopian Women. (Photo by Shlomi Lakau)
