Chaim and Miri Ehrental were meeting a medical team at Rambam Hospital in Haifa when they got the call from the Ministry of Education asking them to come in urgently.
The couple set up Zichron Menachem nearly 30 years ago, after their son Menachem died of cancer. The charity supports children and young people in Israel with the disease, as well as their parents and siblings.
They assumed that the ministry wanted to tell them that Zichron Menachem had finally been awarded a special designation that would result in some public funding.
The charity offers support to families in hospitals around Israel, a day centre where children can go daily for tutoring and activities, a blood bank, camps, counselling and respite trips.
But when the couple arrived at the ministry in Tel Aviv that afternoon, Education Minister Naftali Bennett had a different type of news: the couple had been selected as the recipients of this year’s Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the country’s most prestigious honour.
“When he told us, it was a real shock, and so exciting for us,” said Miri from the Zichron Menachem headquarters in Jerusalem.
Menachem was first diagnosed with leukaemia when he was just two years old. At the time, it was still somewhat taboo to even utter the word cancer and Miri and Chaim recalled how friends would cross the street to avoid talking to them.
“We felt so alone. Only when we sat our family down and explained the details of the disease and how we needed them to talk openly to others, did we get the support that we needed,” she said.
Menachem died when he was 15 years old. Four months later, the couple founded the Zichron Menachem charity.
“What we had learned we were able to pass on,” Miri said in a speech as she was formally presented the award on Thursday night.
“Exactly what we were missing, we were able to give to others: a warm home for sick children where they can go when they can’t go to nursery or school, activities, help with their studies, therapy and so much more.”
To fund the new organisation, the couple hosted a big concert with Avraham Fried and Mordechai Ben David at Jerusalem’s International Convention Centre, the same place where they received the Israel Prize on Thursday evening.
Since that first event, Zichron Menachem has become the largest organisation in Israel, helping children with cancer and their families. It has supported tens of thousands of people — religious, secular, Jewish, Muslim and Christian.
Zichron Menachem has a strong connection to the UK and this summer will bring from Israel 130 children and young people with cancer, together with doctors and nurses, for an all-expenses paid week-long summer camp. The trip gives them the opportunity to forget their illness and connect with other children in a similar situation. Zichron Menachem UK will also run a week-long parents’ respite trip later this month.
The charity’s UK wing is also one of the largest collectors of hair in the community to make custom wigs for women and children free of charge.
“Cancer doesn’t distinguish and neither do we. At Zichron Menachem we don’t talk about religion or politics,” Chaim said.
“We may be accepting this award, but it is not only for us. Only with the help of thousands of volunteers and supporters around the world have we been able to make Zichron Menachem what it is today.”
