Dear Family,
Two weeks ago, something historic happened in the Middle East. For the first time, two injured IDF soldiers flew to Dubai to be fitted with prosthetic hands. Just a few years ago, this would not have been possible before the Abraham Accords.
Until now soldiers who lost parts of their hands had no real way to use their hands, making simple functions like holding a pen or buttoning a shirt almost impossible. Thanks to Naked Prosthetics, an innovative prosthetic company, this has now changed.
Nissan Nisanov made Aliya from Russia when he was just 10 years old. During the Second Lebanon War his company was hit by an anti-tank missile and he lost part of his hand.
Emmanuel Zerah served in the elite Yahalom unit and was injured in Gaza when an explosive device was detonated while he was holding it. He lost all the fingers on his left hand.
Accompanying Nisan and Emmanuel was our own BFL member and injured soldier, Dr. Avi Avitan. Avi himself was also injured by an explosive device.
One of the secondary goals of the BFL Medical Project is to be a force multiplier, in this case, it would mean introducing Naked Prosthetics to the hundreds of Israelis who suffer from similar hand injuries. Dr. Avi will absolutely be a catalyst in making the dream of having a functional hand come true for many people, starting with our own injured IDF brothers.
Shabbat Shalom from Israel,
Yaniv
PS: I must mention that we just had two incredible delegations to Boston and NY. Thanks to all of our BFL partners. On the Boston delegation something amazing happened. Our BFL leader Raz Belisha was describing his injury to the nine other soldiers he had just met. He told them about how he was hit by a bullet in the upper thigh and the medic had to do a special procedure to save his life as the bullet hit above where they could put a tourniquet. As he was talking another soldier, Tal, turned white. Tal told Raz, I remember your injury. I was the medic who did the procedure! They ran up to each other and embraced. All the soldiers realized the enormity of the moment. Raz was meeting for the first time the brother that saved his life. Only at BFL!
