When a child loses both parents, the challenges are enormous. Chantal Belzberg, co-founder of OneFamily Fund, spoke at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference Thursday about the challenges facing children orphaned on October 7, and the families struggling to care for them while grieving themselves.
“Their lives are split between their life before and after,” Belzberg said. “What OneFamily is doing is walking with them through the after, and remaining there - for a lifetime.”
She described the case of a 10-year-old girl whose parents were murdered on October 7. The child moved in with relatives who are themselves grieving the loss of their child, while managing their existing family and professional responsibilities.
OneFamily Fund stays involved in these children's lives by visiting their families and monitoring their emotional well-being, school experiences, and relationships with the rest of the household. They also offer retreats, support groups, and youth groups that connect orphans, of all ages, with others who understand their experiences.
The goal, Belzberg explained, is to accompany them through life's milestones, from graduation to marriage, rather than provide support only in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
Gal Goren, an adult who lost both of his parents in the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, described how the tragedy unfolded. He recalled speaking to his mother shortly before she was shot and taken hostage. She was killed while in captivity, and his father was also taken alive before being murdered.
Goren said losing both parents forced him and his siblings to mature quickly and take on new responsibilities. The organization, he explained, gives him space to be more than the person he became through bereavement.
As a social work student, Goren described healing not as erasing trauma but as finding a meaningful life alongside it.
"When you lose both of your parents, you suddenly have to be the responsible one. OneFamily gives you someone to see you, to understand you, and a place to be. We can't erase the loss, the trauma, the pain, the scars. But we can have a meaningful life beyond that, with meaning, and OneFamily is really part of that.”
Written in collaboration with OneFamily