Hundreds of scholarships and grants handed out to IDF orphans and widows
Annual IDF Widows & Orphans Organization event in Tel Aviv features performance by singer Hanan Ben Ari
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Hundreds of grants, scholarships and gifts were awarded at a gala event Monday evening to people whose parent or spouses were killed in the line of duty as members of one of Israel’s security services.
The annual event, held by the IDF Widows & Orphans Organization (IDFWO), took place at the Zappa venue at Gan Yehoshua in Tel Aviv. The ceremony was attended by more than 500 people, the organizers said, and featured a closing performance by singer Hanan Ben Ari.
“We stand by the families for their entire lives, for bar mitzvas and when they are students, soldiers and graduates,” said Shlomi Nahumson, CEO of the IDFWO, speaking to The Times of Israel by phone. “We support them and want to say that they aren’t alone — that even if their father isn’t here, we are there for them, proud of them and happy for them.”
The IDFWO was founded in 1991 and receives funding from both the government and private donors, but operates independently with the aim of “supporting and empowering the widows and orphans of fallen servicemen of the IDF and other security personnel, and to create a supportive community for bereaved families,” according to the group’s website.
The organization runs a myriad of year-round activities, including kids’ camps, trips abroad, conferences, local support groups, seminars, special events, care packages around the holidays and more.
At Monday’s event, 178 academic scholarships for bachelor or master’s degrees were handed out, and 50 community members received a monetary gift for their upcoming weddings, the organizers said. Additionally, three research grants were awarded for academic studies in the areas of “individual and collective consequences of loss and grief.”
The ceremony also made special note of adult orphans who are currently serving, and 190 soldiers or reservists received a grant in recognition of their active duty during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Additionally, Nahumson said, there are 31 widows who were pregnant when their spouses were recently killed in Gaza. The IDFWO is already supporting them, “and 21 have already given birth,” he said.

Nir Barash, 28, received a scholarship that will go toward his computer science degree. “I lost my father when I was seven years old. I know the organization helped my mom… it’s been a part of our lives for my entire life. As time goes by, the organization has gotten bigger and it has managed to do more for kids.”
Barash, who attended the Otzmah kids’ camps run by the organization when he was younger, also went on a group bar mitzvah trip to the United States with IDFWO. After starting to volunteer as an adult counselor at the camps several years ago, this summer, he said, he will go back to the US again, accompanying a bar mitzvah group.
“I am coming full circle,” Barash said.
Roni Cohen, 25, who lost her father when she was 12, received two grants on Monday: a scholarship for her academic studies and a grant in recognition of her current IDF reserve duty, where she serves as a firearms instructor.
“When we were children we really felt the influence of the organization. To lose a parent as a child is a major event, and to have a community of other kids who are experiencing the same thing is very strong,” she said. “The scholarships really help… The entire situation affects people differently, but it’s a very challenging, difficult year.”
During the closing performance by Ben Ari, CEO Nahumson said that he had “never seen so many smiling orphans. We understand that you have to stick with life, you have to continue with life itself, and from that place, we celebrate with them.”
Supporting the population of bereaved families has ramifications beyond psychological, social and material help, Nahumson said. “For the soldiers now in Gaza, they need to know that if God forbid something happens to them, there will be help for their families… we also have a part in the security of the State of Israel, because knowing that helps the soldiers to stay strong.”