C.R.I.B. - EFRAT, the Committee for the Rescue of Israel’s Babies, has been helping pregnant Israeli women in financial distress for the past 45 years, giving women assistance during pregnancy and after the baby is born.
“We give assistance to women who are deliberating because of the situation that their lives are in at the moment whether or not they're able to continue,” says EFRAT social worker Ruthy Tidhar, an American born Israeli who has been with the organization for nearly 20 years. “The assistance that EFRAT gives helps the woman continue the pregnancy if that's what she chooses.”
The topic is a delicate one, however EFRAT handles it in a very straightforward manner.
“We help women who want our help,” Tidhar explains. “That's how we balance the whole thing. We're here to help those women who want our help, those women who even though they found themselves pregnant, they didn't expect that they're not getting the support from their surroundings that they need to feel comfortable with it. But in her heart she feels like it's not the right thing for her to do to have an abortion.”
Tidhar adds that “even though technically in Israel it's really simple to have an abortion, EFRAT doesn't try to change laws. EFRAT is not a political organization. We believe that it's a matter of education and a matter of connecting up with the woman and helping her find her inner voice and helping her with the concrete support that she needs.”
That support “comes in a variety of formats," whether it’s financial, emotional or simply informational.
“The most important information that we can give is trying to help a woman understand how she might feel if she has the abortion,” Tidhar says. “I speak daily with many women and one of the questions I always ask everyone who turns to us is ‘Did you ever have an abortion in the past?’ And when she answers in the positive, I always ask her, ‘And how was the experience for you? How was it for you to have an abortion?’ And the answers that I get are very very difficult and very very painful.”
Tidhar explains that “people say it's the worst thing that ever happened to me. One woman said, ‘I had an abortion four months ago but I haven't slept for four months.’ You know, signs of depression and distress. Real emotional distress. Ii always say if we at EFRAT can help one woman avoid that pain then we've really done a lot.”
EFRAT helps women not only during their pregnancy, but they are also there for them after their babies are born. There is a feeling and connection of gratitude from the mothers for the support EFRAT gives them.
“I got such a beautiful letter today. This woman writes that she's thanking us for the two years of help – her baby is two years and two months old, she was born October 19, 2019 – and she's thanking us for the help that we gave her and what she talked about so beautifully and so touchingly was that EFRAT helped her find her inner voice of positivity; of her inner voice that said, ‘Yes, I can do this, I can be a mother.’ And when the baby was born and she realized that the baby is a mirror and a bridge to herself. Then she talks about the strength that she got from their relationship with EFRAT.”
In the EFRAT offices, the walls are covered with photos of babies.
“The assistance that we give is really important,” Tidhar says. “It's not by accident that the woman wrote us after two years because she just finished getting two years worth of monthly packages of diapers, wipes, food – what she needed. Plus, the baby equipment at the beginning: a crib and a stroller, all brand new and brought to her home. It's a very meaningful assistance.”
What’s next in terms of upcoming projects for EFRAT?
“Our new project is called Working Mom,” Tidhar explains. “It’s all about giving women the push that they need and the help that they need to go back out into the world of work and help support their family by giving them occupational guidance and help with paying for the daycare, which is a huge expense after babies born. It's a really important thing. It’s like giving them a push forward into the world of being at work and being able to support their family in the proper way.”
Having been with EFRAT since 2001, Tidhar remarks that she is still excited to go into work every day, and she speaks of all the amazing experiences she has had working for the organization over the years. As she talks about EFRAT, she can’t help thinking of their multitude of success stories.
“I think of all the stories, and it's an enormous thing,” Tidhar says.
“Dr. Schussheim (who headed EFRAT beginning in 1977) passed away half a year ago and we were all really broken by his death. But I have to say that Dr. Schussheim left an organization that works, where everybody knows what they need to do in order to save another woman and another baby, and help in the places that are needed so much.”