Tel Aviv — Every morning, Leia Rosenburg, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor, awakens to the echoing silence of her modest apartment in southern Tel Aviv. Her days are long, marked by the monotony of routine, and her interactions are few.
Despite living in a city bustling with life, she is one of the thousands of elderly people in Israel who face the profound loneliness of aging in a country that is often too busy to notice.
This is not an uncommon narrative among Israel’s elderly population. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, nearly one-quarter of Israel's elderly live alone. Many are Holocaust Survivors who lost families in the war or immigrants whose children and grandchildren now live abroad. For these individuals, isolation is more than just a physical state—it’s a debilitating emotional and mental burden.
Enter Adopt-A-Safta, a nonprofit organization that has emerged as a lifeline for lonely seniors like Leia. The organization, whose name translates to "Adopt-A-Granny" in Hebrew, pairs over 5000 young volunteers with elderly citizens, fostering intergenerational relationships that bridge the gap between the young and old. This simple yet profound connection is changing lives.