A few months short of being drafted by the Israeli Defence
Force Menachem is enjoying a little leisure time in Afula. He has his own private room, a tv, free meals and he gets to hang around with kids all day. What is so remarkable is that Menachem, only a short while ago, was a troubled teen in danger of falling into a world of crime and punishment. But thanks to the important work being done at The Sarah Herzog Emunah Children’s Center in Afula, an initiative of British Emunah, Menachem is now a role model for young boys living in the center.
Menachem immigrated from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Israel with his mother and four
brothers when he was four and a half years old. The young family, settled in
Haifa, but Menachem did not stay at home for very long.
Living in various boarding schools since the first grade, Menachem lacked the warm
family atmosphere that most kids take for granted. Out of desperation Menachem’s
mother had begun to beat her children. Having been at the Afula Children’s Center for the past seven years, Menachem eventually made an about face and changed his ways.
The turning point came a little over a year ago when he got into a scuffle with the
police.
“I started fighting with them so they beat me. They cuffed me and beat again in the
patrol car, in the station.” That’s when Shlomo Kessel, the [then] director of the EMUNAH Children’s Home in Afula came to bail him out. ‘I told him ‘I’m not going to kick you out!’’
“If they would have thrown me out then I would have had nowhere to go,”
recounts Menachem. “I realized that day that I must become a person,” he reflects, “I
had to take myself by the hand,” In the beginning, “I felt like I wanted to escape,” he says thinking back, “but now I understand why.”
Since Menachem’s progress in the last year, he has been given responsibilities on the
campus. He helps look after a diverse group of boys, some from Russia, Ethiopia and
even Argentina.
“I wanted to say thank you. There is no other way to express my gratitude,” Menachem declares. “EMUNAH’s motto is Making Life Better – in every sense for all those
blameless, mistreated children who deserve a chance for a better future.
UPDATE
Since the completion of this article Menachem has joined the army and has completed
basic training. Menachem is a certified sharpshooter and serves in a combat unit
stationed in Nablus. Menachem has been recognized as a lone soldier and lives on a
kibbutz near Afula.
Menachem has yet to reconcile with his mother.
