Since October 7, Jewish charities in the UK have been coming up with novel ways to strengthen their ties to Israel.

Now JNF UK is  – literally – taking a leap into the unknown as it hosts its first simultaneous Zumba events in London and Tel Aviv to raise money for a charity which supports Nova survivors. The two sessions, on October 20, will be connected via a livestream.

Hosted by British presenter Rachel Riley, the event will see participants follow choreographed dance exercises led by a Zumba instructor in London and in Tel Aviv as they fundraise for the SafeHeart, a mental health organisation whose ethos is based around helping October 7 festival survivors return to their lives.

Festival survivors at the mental health organisation SafeHeart gather for a group session. JNF UK will be hosting a Zumba fundraising event for SafeHeart, which provides dedicated clinical psychiatric care to October 7 Nova survivors. (Photo: SafeHeart)

Dana Zohar, the funding project manager at JNF UK, came up with the idea for a dance-centred fundraising event through her own connection to Zumba, an exercise programme that involves cardio and dance, which she has been practising for the past 15 years.

“Something about the movement and being connected to your body resonates with freedom,” Zohar said. “We can overcome and continue to dance, continue to live, continue with full strength. It’s the demonstration of power, being able to be your authentic self and free from all the adversity that you’ve been experiencing.”

JNF UK already features SafeHeart, which offers therapy, on its website as an avenue for UK donors to support victims of October 7, but this is the first JNF UK fundraising event whose proceeds will go exclusively to the Israeli mental health organisation for Nova survivors.

A meeting at SafeHeart, a mental health organisation dedicated to providing clinical psychological care for October 7 festival survivors. (Photo: SafeHeart)

“We have many donors from the US reaching out to us, but in the UK far fewer,” said Sharonna Karni Cohen, head of partnerships and communications for SafeHeart. “We’re really grateful for this event to expose the organisation and bring more of the British Jewry to get involved as much as possible with SafeHeart.”

The organisation, which began when a group of friends in the Israeli mental health sphere determined the need for clinical psychological care devoted solely to festival survivors after October 7, currently has over 350 licensed therapists and supports more than 1,000 survivors.

SafeHeart has an emergency psychiatric team, holds weekly clinical therapy sessions, hosts retreats and group therapy, drug addiction rehabilitation as well as art and music therapies. It also offers a parents and family support network for those who experienced “secondary trauma” as the relative of a survivor.

Shrines to the victims of the October 7 massacre at the Nova music festival in Re'im, Israel. (Photo: SafeHeart)

“For us it’s very important to get a lot of these survivors back on track,” said Cohen. “Many are still relying on substances and it’s important that they’re speaking to the right people to ensure they’re telling the truth and not hiding any information, so that was the key need for Safeheart from the get-go.

“There are amazing organisations in Israel that are dealing with trauma, but none with this very specific expertise and need. These young people, at the end of the day, are the next generation of our leaders of Israel and you see the desperation; you see how much help they need.”

Karina Dessau, co-founder of SafeHeart and head of holistic treatments, paused her private therapy clinic after October 7 to work solely on setting up the festival survivors’ organisation.

She said that for the first few months, the organisation was mainly a collection of therapists volunteering their time; until the middle of December, most of the therapists at SafeHeart worked for free.

Dessau, who specialises in holistic treatments that link mental and physical wellbeing, said: “We really can see that it’s helping them. Some of them saying it’s the first time they can sleep after almost one year of not being able to sleep, having panic attacks from every single noise,” she said. “It's really amazing.”

(Photo: SafeHeart)

Cohen added that SafeHeart “put the spotlight on the fact that they need help, they need professional mental support and it’s our obligation to provide it, to take care of them after what they’ve been through.”

Zohar, who repeated the mantra used by many Nova festival survivors – “We will dance again” – said the event will be especially significant given its timing: “October is going to be very challenging for us, so I thought we should have something that would be inspiring and uplifting and moving and meaningful - bringing together Jewish community and connecting with Israel and the Israeli community, and having people dance together as if we’re crossing borders.”

Both Cohen and Dessau expressed gratitude for the fundraising efforts of JNF UK, noting that SafeHeart receives some financial support from the government but “nowhere near enough”.

“We’re lobbying weekly to make sure the government provides sustainable support for these survivors. Our whole ethos is about getting people back to life; bringing people back to their work, back to their studies, back to the dreams they had before,” Cohen said.

The Zumba event will take place on 20 October from 5:30pm-7:30pm in locations in London and in Tel Aviv. To book tickets, click here