In the months after October 7, Israelis began to gather again — not in stadiums or concert halls, but around tables. Folding tables in community centers, wooden ones in borrowed halls, kitchen tables in homes that smelled faintly of smoke and disinfectant.
At first, these meals were quiet. People came because they didn't want to eat alone. But slowly, between the plates of soup and the murmured amen after blessings, something unexpected happened: connection began to return.
Mental Health First Aid Israel calls this movement healing through togetherness — the understanding that community itself can become a therapeutic space, one conversation and one shared meal at a time.
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