The Jewish Agency and the Pensioners Ministry will express their thanks Monday night to hundreds of volunteers who work with Holocaust survivors, helping to record their stories and ensure that they receive the rights they are entitled to. The volunteers, who work with the La'ad project, will be treated to a concert in Tel Aviv with some of the top names in Israeli music, including Arik Sinai, Daniel Salomon, and others.
There are over 200,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel. Although many of them receive assistance from different government agencies, many are eligible for other benefits that they are not aware of. In addition, a large number have never told their stories, and as they get older, the opportunities to record what happened to them during the war years diminishes almost daily.
The La'ad project, started in 2009, is dedicated to ensuring that survivors get the full array of benefits coming to them – but perhaps even more importantly, the La'ad volunteers patiently sit with survivors and hear them tell their chilling tales of imprisonment in concentration camps, and their thrilling stories of escape or survival. Over 300 volunteers currently work with La'ad, having undergone special training by the Ministry and the Jewish Agency.
Since 2009, some 4,500 volunteers have received training, and tens of thousands of survivors' stories have been recorded, the organization said.