Jenny Aloni, a 53-year-old special education teacher from Ofakim, found her world turned upside down on October 7. Her husband, Doron, an Israel Police commander, was fighting terrorists nearby, while their son Eran, a soldier, guarded the family’s home. Meanwhile, their other son, Amit, was fleeing the Nova music festival. Jenny desperately tried to keep in touch with Amit as he escaped the chaos. Doron, wounded while attempting to rescue Amit, eventually recovered. But in a devastating turn of events, the army came to their door shortly after to inform them that Eran had fallen in battle in northern Gaza. “Since then, day is not day, night is not night, and life is not life,” Jenny laments. “For 28 years, I worked in special education, but I simply couldn’t go back. It was just too much for me.”
Determined to rebuild her life, Jenny turned to JDC’s Back on Track program, which supports people affected by October 7th to reenter the workforce. Back on Track provides individualized career coaching, tailored to survivors’ specific needs, and helps participants move forward at their own pace. “My weekly meetings with Hadas, the program coordinator, are my blessed times. I work with her on coping with the loss and where I’m going from here in terms of career,” Jenny explains.
With the program’s guidance, Jenny is exploring a new career in jewelry-making. “In my dreams, I want to intertwine Eran’s memory in everything I make. I need to do it at my own pace and create something new from the pain of the past.”