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Almost 20 years ago, David Rubin was driving back from Jerusalem with his 3 year old son sitting in the baby seat, when the car was hit by a barrage of bullets in an attack by terrorists.

Rubin was hit in the leg, his son in the head. Incredibly, they survived, but his son suffered trauma.

“When I saw all the psychological trauma that he was going through, I had this vision of a therapeutic educational campus that would heal the trauma of terror victim children, restore the lost innocence to their lives and, at the same time, rebuild the biblical heartland of Israel."

“At that moment I decided to start what would eventually become the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund.”

The fund offers a boys’ school and girls’ school as well as a range of informal therapies, including a petting zoo and music studio, helping child terror victims to heal. It also houses a formal therapy center, called “Mifgash.”

“There is a study according to which any shekel invested in a child now up to age 6 is instead of 15 shekels that it would cost to treat him later in life,” Shilat Yogev, director of Mifgash, says. “These ages are really critical.”

Yogev adds that thanks to Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, “we are able to offer treatments and even develop more extensive solutions” that are not covered by Israel’s national health insurance.

“We’re big Zionists. We believe in our right to be here in the biblical heartland, we believe strongly we can achieve through the sweat of our hands and our own hard work,” Rubin says.

“But there are a lot of people around the world who understand the importance of Israel’s return to it’s biblical heartland. There are a lot of people around the world who care about the children, and understand that the way to help Israel is to help the children.

“So we have people all over the world who stand with us in what we are trying to accomplish, and what we are accomplishing. Truly we are able to turn the pain of terrorism into miracles with the help of G-d and the help of all our friends around the world.”

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