Our Origin & Team

MBTR-R Tel Aviv and later Moments of Refuge emerged at the inter-section of the paths that led each of us to one another and to our shared mission to help refugees heal, one moment at a time.

Amit Bernstein, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Director of the Observing Minds Lab and The Moments of Refuge Project. I remember sitting in my family dining room, following my mother’s return from a funeral in Israel for her Aunt. In Israel, with her cousins, she found a letter in her Aunt’s filing cabinet, in a folder labeled “soucis familiale” (family troubles). The letter had been hand-written in 1943 by my mother’s parents – Rose and Felix – from inside a train car in Paris, moments before it departed. The letter asked her Aunt and Uncle to care for my mother, until their return.

My mother’s Aunt and Uncle raised her along with her cousins in the years after the second world war – after she lost her parents, on that train, to the brutality of forced displacement and genocide. Her parents never returned. Over the more than 50 years since that day in 1943, my mother had never seen or heard of this letter – the only living document of, and from, my grandparents. Today, that letter hangs framed in our family dining room, protected behind glass and by our collective memory.

I have come to understand that MBTR-R Tel Aviv, Moments of Refuge, and my group’s work to care for the wellbeing and human rights of refugees and asylum seekers are inspired by my efforts to make meaning from the past and present injustice, trauma and loss of forced displacement. I am deeply grateful for the privilege to do this work and our mission, values and aspirations to help refugees heal, one moment at a time.

Kim Yuval, PhD, Project Coordinator, MBTR-R Tel Aviv & Postdoctoral Fellow, Moments of Refuge. As a child I was very close to my grandmother, Helga Caro. We used to spend hours sitting on her balcony, feeding the birds, and playing board and card games. I suffered from hypersensitivity, and her calmness, patience and attentiveness were so important to my experience as a child. When I grew up, we mainly spent our time together talking. I would tell her about my day at school and she tell me all kind of stories from her past in the Weimar Republic and in Israel-Palestine. Over the years, I found that a few of these stories impacted me profoundly. In particular, she told me about her life as a refugee, escaping with her sick mother from Nazi Germany, and about her decision to become a social worker in the camps for displaced persons in Europe at the end of the war. Helga shared these stories calmly and warmly and with her unique reflective humor. I would almost forget the enormous hardships of her experiences. I understand today, that I learned from my grandmother Helga, that people – all of us, everywhere – are capable of committing atrocities. Yet, although this frightening reality may lead some to paralysis, I learned from her that we are able to take and make an active stance – to find a way to restore justice and ameliorate suffering. These lessons have guided years of activism, my clinical practice, and my belief in and commitment to MBTR-R Tel Aviv and Moments of Refuge.

Anna Reebs, M.A., Research Director, MBTR-R Tel Aviv. Growing up, I was intrigued by foreign cultures, countries and places. I loved family gatherings, when my uncle would come to visit from Canada or my aunt from France and Egypt. My parents were very involved in community work, my dad as a social worker and my mum as a teacher for children with special needs. In this way, my family and upbringing framed my values and beliefs in human rights, social justice, and universal equality for all members of society, irrespective of religion and background.

Years later, I met my now husband, who is from Israel. Through his experience of living in Germany and mine in Israel, I came to realize how challenging and lonely it can be to not belong, to be a stranger in a foreign land – even in the best of circumstances when you are free, welcomed and supported.

In Israel, focusing my PhD work on refugee mental health and human rights through MBTR-R Tel Aviv represented an opportunity to pursue my values and aspirations through my work and studies. It was also an opportunity to help other strangers in a foreign land find the peace and safety that they so deserved. In these ways, I hoped that MBTR-R could provide care, hope and refuge to asylum seekers coping with the trauma and loss of their forced displacement and the challenges of life in a foreign place.

Yuval Hadash, MA, MBTR-R Tel Aviv Mindfulness Training Director. Years ago, I received a transcript accounting the atrocities my late grandmother, her sister, and her parents suffered as Jewish refugees during the second world war. It described their daring escape from Nazi-occupied Warsaw into the Soviet Union, their forced displacement to a labor camp in Siberia, and subsequently to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and adversities they experienced there. The transcript also recounted the horror and grief upon their return to Warsaw after the war – to find that all their family members had perished in the holocaust.

My grandmother never talked about her experiences as a refugee during the war. She was determined to live a life dedicated to others, and in particular to children and refugees. She worked to give them safety and refuge so that each could not only survive but also thrive. As a child, her profound compassion and giving deeply inspired me.

Years later, I read remarkable life stories of Tibetan refugees like the Dalai Lama. I was deeply touched by the extraordinary ways they found refuge in Buddhist principles and practices including generosity, mindfulness and compassion and applied them to help themselves and others cope and heal from immense trauma and loss. This initiated a long personal journey, in which I continue today, into mindfulness and compassion meditation practices, and later my training as a clinical psychologist and work in developing and applying mindfulness-based programs to promote healing, wellbeing, and mental health.

I feel deeply privileged to take part in our group’s work to afford refugees and asylum seekers opportunities for healing and recovery through MBTR-R Tel Aviv and Moments of Refuge. I see my work in these projects as a way to continue my grandmother’s dedication to care for those suffering from trauma and loss.

Our Team

Our Team. MBTR-R Tel Aviv and the origin of Moments of Refuge was carried out by a large, dedicated and tireless team. The team spans disciplines, staff and students, members of the Eritrean asylum seeker community and the inspiring NGOs that serve them as well as researchers, clinicians and mindfulness teachers. Below, is only brief recognition of the huge efforts and contributions of the MBTR-R Tel Aviv team.