Page 47 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 14

Daniel Eytan (Israel)
A comment to: Coping Daniel Eytan.

with Stress - Christian Living in Haifa,
Israel. Married
Perspectives to Lorena and

happy father of
Haleli, Elishay
I was very glad when I read the article by Da- and Liel. M.A
vid Nehring, with its title “Coping with Stress”, Clinical Psycho-
during those days on which we in Israel cele- logy, UBA (Uni-
brate Pessah (Passover) under the shadow of the versity of Buenos
Covid19, and the major commemorative dates Aires). Working at Rambam Healthcare
after it, like Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Campus, and Acco municipality. Languages:
HaShoah), then Remembrance Day dedicated Hebrew, English, Spain and Italian. Member
to fallen soldiers, and right after that we cele- of The Israel Psychological Association.
brate Independence Day, and all this with the
same restrictions in every country around the Former contributions in our eJournal by
world because of Covid19. Andrey you can see her:
I have to express thanks for the opportunity to https://emcapp.ignis.de/13/#p=94
write this comment and I would like to clarify https://emcapp.ignis.de/12/#p=80
that English is not my mother tongue: my back-
ground is a mix of Karaite Jews and „normal“
Jews (my roots are half from Egypt; half from
Sicily).

But as I read I couldn‘t help but think that this they did not have that and they lived - and still
time is also the beginning of spring in Israel, live - dealing with stress in our Israeli society,
and I couldn‘t help associating „spring“ with the daughter of a great social burden of post
„freedom“. Passover, Independence day ... shoa’: trauma, with great expectations and hopes, but
the majority of my patients are adults and old also with great faults that we should deal with.
people who survived the holocaust and diffe- In my experience as a Jew there, having served
rent wars in Israel, many of them at this time in the army, then as a reservist, and after years
alone, without family, some of them suffering re-enrolled as a military psychologist, I have
from ptsd, panic, anxiety, anger, impulsiveness seen a decrease in the ability to handle these by
etc. soldiers, unlike the first 60 years of Israel, where
And in my head I kept thinking: “How does ideals, even if one were not religious, were pa-
the word of God fit in the hecatomb of outraged ramount, love for the homeland – our promised
life?” land – was stronger than any recognition and
Many of them have different lives, different so- bleeding for it was perhaps the greatest contri-
cial positions and different marital status, but bution that any Israeli fighter could aspire to…
all ask where God was when these terrible situa- or at least I grew up with those ideals.
tions happened. Not just holocaust survivors, I I agree when David Nehring writes „self aid and
mean everyone. buddy care“.
Currently, over the past 20 years we (in Isra-
el) have gained an expanded understanding We once had a notion of that, but part of our
of a variety of social life issues, some of them ego, in our narcissistic society, has become a
overstepping limits and tolerance in many ways premise and we understand that teamwork
and others where we have let them „cool down“ must be of greater benefit than the achievement
perhaps so as not to disturb others. However, of a few. As an example we can go back to the

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