safed.co.li

Category: Resources

  • Shem-en-Tov

    Nestled into a little corner of the Artists Quarter, the Shem-en Tov Natural Health Clinic has, for twelve years, been working to promote natural healing through essential oils, good nutrition, and natural products.

    Gila and Shimon Halag work together in the clinic, which has a treatment room, workshop room, and shop. It is here that they slowly introduce people to the idea that good health care can come from sources other than one’s local health fund.

    Sources of Health Problems

    “We look at where a problem may be coming from” Gila explains. “Skin problems, especially, are often manifestations of other types of issues that the body is fighting, such as stress and emotional pressures, as well as medical problems. We try to go to the source of the problem, rather than treating what is on the surface”.

    Gila’s husband, Shimon, has an extensive background in medicine, both conventional (as a paramedic) and alternative. He brings many different disciplines to their work, including aromatherapy, holistic massage and reflexology, bio-energy healing, crystals, and knowledge of herbal therapies.

    The Halags use some products of large companies, but they make the majority of the products themselves, with natural ingredients. “We were the first in Israel to make our own compounds” Gila says. “Shimon is the pharmacist. Other companies followed our lead, and have become much bigger and more successful than we, but we feel honored that we have been able, in our own small way, to make such an impact on the lives of so many people.”

    Natural Pharmaceuticals

    Some of the conditions that the Halag’s products are particularly successful in alleviating are symptoms for breathing problems and menopause. “Doctors are only now beginning to realize that hormone-replacement therapy is not the answer to helping women going through menopause, but we’ve been doing that for years. In addition, hemorrhoids, a condition that conventional medicine can only successfully treat through surgery, can be successfully treated with our creams. And aromatherapy scents are much sought after for helping women during pregnancy and during labor to promote an easy delivery”

    The Halog’s are particularly concerned by the increased usage of Ritalin in schools, for younger and younger children. “I’ve seen classes where 40% of the children are on Ritalin” Shimon says. “For the 4 hours that the Ritalin works, they sit like zombies, and to make things even worse, the Ritalin suppresses their appetites. When the Ritalin wears off, they’re starving, so they eat, and the sudden influx of sugar into their system makes them even more hyperactive! Gila is the partner who works intensively on proper nutrition, especially with hyperactive children, and together with other therapies, the Halags have had quite a bit of success in treating children who have been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD.

    Shem-en Tov has a weekly column in the Magid MeSharim newsletter, which comes out of Jerusalem on Fridays, and is distributed in synagogues throughout the country. Many of their clients have come to them through this venue, but word of mouth has also brought clients from all over the world.

    “We believe that we have been given a special opportunity” Gila and Shimon say at the end of the interview, “to help people stay healthy in a natural manner. It is our income, but it’s more than that…..we have been given gifts that allow us to help others, and that’s worth more than any income”.

    Shem-en Tov can be contacted at shementov@012.net.il or 972-4-6820074/ 972-502-332-446

  • B’Derech HaMelech

    A Search for a Solution

    Edyl Reznik, a Tzfat mother of seven, had grown concerned after hearing friends repeatedly express their worries about their children’s’ difficulties in school, and in life. “It was everywhere you looked” Mrs. Reznik exclaimed “and the only solution that most parents were finding was to medicate their children.”

    B'Derech HaMelech

     

    As Mrs. Reznik researched the issue of options for dealing with children who had been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD, she became convinced that there were other, and better choices than the over-prescribed Ritalin. It was often the first choice of the doctors, the educators, and finally, the parents who had reached the end of their ropes, she realized, when too often other methods and techniques hadn’t even been tried.

    Developing a Holistic Program

    So Mrs. Reznik began a comprehensive program of behavior modification, B’Derech HaMelech. The modification, however, isn’t as much to modify the children’s behavior as it is to work on that of the parents’. The goal of the program is to provide parents’, whose children exhibit various behavior problems, with the proper medical and diagnostic information, to avoid the abuse of Ritalin (“we’re not anti-Ritalin”, Mrs. Reznik emphasizes, “but we try to find strategies so that it doesn’t become the only tool available to deal with difficult children) and train the parents in a variety of techniques that will allow them to successfully deal with their child, both at home and in school. The program concentrates on children who are believed to be ADD, ADHD, gifted, or dyslexic.

    Diagnosing the Problem

    Each new case begins with a phone call – to help insure families’ privacy and confidentiality, most of the consultations and assistance takes place over the phone. The B’Derech HaMelech staff, which consists of educational and psychological professionals, complete an intake questionnaire, which is designed to look at the child’s present situation regarding education, nutrition, eye-hand coordination, and social skills, among other issues. As the counseling progresses, the staff works with the parents on an individual basis to strengthen their parenting skills while insuring that all other possible causes of the child’s difficult behavior are checked. “We find that many children are suffering from any of 35 undiagnosed medical issues” Mrs. Reznick explains, “including vision problems, sleep disorders, blood sugar issues and auditory problems, and often, they manifest as behavioral problems”.

    The staff of B’Derech HaMelech works out of the Reznik home in the Old City of Tzfat. In addition to the individual counsel

    ing, they create materials and run seminars for parents who want some general assistance in raising their families. They work in conjunction with a board that consists of medical doctors and Rabbis, and because of the emphasis on Jewish Law, the vast majority of their clientel

    e are religious Jews. “We have people calling us from all over the world” Mrs. Reznik says “because there really is nothing else like this program that combines up-to-date medical and psychological data with a sensitivity to these peoples’ religious needs.

    “Doctors are sometimes obsessed with ‘disease’” Mrs. Reznik sighs “but when you work with a model that integrates knowledge from a variety of disciplines, you can make a much stronger impact”. One suspects that this is true on a much wider scale than that which B’Derech HaMelech works with, and can only hope that professionals throughout the world will take note.

    B’Derech HaMelech may be contacted at bderech.hamelech@gmail.com or by phone, 972-4-6925251.

  • Tzfat’s English Library

    The “Anglos’ ” Library

    You can hear a lot of English on the ancient streets of Safed and considering its small size, cultural makeup (largely Sephardi) and distance from the main population centers of Israel, Tzfat has a surprisingly large number of Anglo immigrants and native En

    Tzfat's English Library

    glish speakers.

    Visitors often comment on this language phenomenon while in Safed. Even in the short time they are in Tzfat, they hear New York, Midwest and other identifiably American English. (With all due respect to the Brits, Aussies and South Africans in the city, most speakers of English are from North America).

    There are many reasons why English speakers are drawn to Tzfat, among them the sense of community, the religious life and the clean air. But for many ex-Anglos, the deciding factor for settling in Tzfat is The Library.

    Beginnings

    Established in the 1970s by Edyth Geiger, a dynamic dame from Miami, the Tzfat English Library is a haven for speakers of English who crave a bit of their home country. “I would never start my Shabbat preparations on Friday mornings without a qui

    ck stop in the library to get some Shabbos reading,” one sheitel-wearing* member of a Hassidic sect in Tzfat says. “It keeps me going throughout the week,” another reader confides, his ponytail bobbing behind him.

    The library began in Edyth’s tiny apartment after she arrived in Tzfat. A voracious reader, Edyth soon realized that if she wanted books, she would have to take action. She started to borrow friends’ books, and when that well ran dry, she asked friends and well-wishers to send volumes from the States. Word got around that Edyth was willing to lend her books, and slowly her borrow-and-lend system evolved into today’s library.

    Thousands of books on every subject imaginable are catalogued, categorized, shelved and tracked as hundreds of people visit weekly, checking out and returning her books. For decades, volunteers would keep the library orderly and functioning, but Edyth managed the whole operation.

    Edyth

    Edyth Geiger passed away at the age of 94 in June, 2013. She is dearly missed. Not only did Edyth coordinate volunteer activity and undertake all necessary fund raising (thousands of dollars yearly), she oversaw all new arrivals to the library- both from donations and from her own purchases at used book stores throughout the country. Edyth staffed the returns desk every Friday morning, eagle-eyeing tardy borrowers, as well as making sure that the library didn’t lose its personal flavor. “I’ve kept this book aside for you all week,” she could often be heard telling a visitor, “because I know you like this author.”

    There’s other sharing that goes on in the library. People of different backgrounds and beliefs come together to talk, swap stories and opinions and just mingle. It’s not at all unusual to find a group of fervently Orthodox and secular readers clustered in a corner of the library, animatedly discussing a book or exchanging ideas.

    Well into her nineties, Edyth ensured that the library stayed as technologically advanced as the budget will al

    low and she was

    overseeing the digital cataloging of the inventory.

    The library has a children’s section, audiotapes for the visually impaired, videotapes and DVDs, magazines on every conceivable subject, jigsaw puzzles and a wide variety of reading material that any large city library would be proud to have. It’s no wonder that so many Anglos, when asked to explain why they ended up in Tzfat, start out “Well, there’s this library, you see…..”

    For more on the library, click here.

    wig=sheitel*

  • Resources And Services

    Here in our section devoted to the resources and services available in Safed, you can find all of the information you need for a one day trip to the city or for a lifetime of living in Safed.

    Resources And Services

     

    Basic Info

    Here you will find information about the city’s tourist information center, Safed’s banks and post offices, the city’s

    English language library, Information sharing in the city among the Anglo population, a network for prayers, and the Rebecca Sieff Hospital.

    Things To Do

    Check out Safed’s class on Parent Training or find out more about heathly living and natural medicine.  Maybe laugh yoga can help you get through the day ot day grind.  Find out more.

    Also take a look at our article on the Yigal Allon Cultural Center and learn how you can get information on upcoming performances.

    If you are looking for a guide in Safed then look no further.  Enjoy our articles on Safed’s tour guide and a Kabbalah.

    Get all of the information you need for an enjoyable and fun time in Safed.