History

Rabbi Seth and Sherri Mandell established the Koby Mandell Foundation in 2001 after their 13-year-old son Koby and his friend Yosef Ishran were brutally murdered by terrorists near their home in Israel. 

In the past ten years in Israel, terrorism has claimed over 1,300 lives and has left over 6,000 people wounded, many of them severely. The number of extended family members of victims—those who have lost grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews or cousins — exceeds 12,000. Additionally, an estimated 50,000 Israelis have directly experienced a terrorist bombing; its horrors, carnage, and aftermath.

Sherri and Seth's own loss of their son Koby made them uniquely qualified to envision what kind of support systems might make a real difference in the lives of people who lost parents, children or siblings through the then raging Intifada and the newest violence coming from Israel's enemies to the North.

The Mandells took their vision to professional therapists and grief counselors for refinement. The result of this partnership is that participants in Camp Koby, Mothers Healing Retreats, and the other programs of The Koby Mandell Foundation have been successfully guided along the path to healing by our unique, threefold model. This model -- made up of community building, fun/relaxation, and informal therapy – draws its strength from the integration of the authenticity of personal experience and the professional expertise of trained therapists.  More than 2000 people have participated in and benefited from our programs.

In the past few  years The Koby Mandell Foundation model has been shown to be highly adaptable for use by various populations that have experienced traumatic death and other forms of profound lost.  This past summer, for example, we partnered with another organization to bring the Camp Koby model to children and teens from Gush Katif. Whatever one's politics, the children who experienced the displacement from their homes clearly suffered.  In addition last year The Koby Mandell Foundation ran day camps for three hundred Ethiopian new immigrant children. We are working with another organization to develop a version of one of our programs that will be used to help people from impoverished homes. Another provider has expressed an interest in using our model for victims of domestic violence. These are all worthwhile initiatives, which we will continue to pursue.