Former Israeli Education Minister, Shai Piron, should be a better-known figure outside Israel.
This quietly spoken ex-politician and rabbi, once number two on Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid list, is the founder president of a grass-roots movement called Pnima (Inward), which seeks to bridge gaps between different groups in Israeli society, from religious to secular.
But Piron is also something of a rock star in the charities and disabilities sector, as a powerful spokesman for the non-profit organisation Simcha LaYeled, which helps hundreds of children and young people all over Israel, who have chronic illnesses and disabilities, but no cognitive issues.
Part of Piron’s attachment to Simcha LaYeled can be explained by his son, Naor, who will be accompanying Piron on a rare visit to London in support of the charity at the end of the month. For Naor is profoundly physically disabled, but became part of the Piron family when he was just a baby and had been left in hospital by his biological family.
Naor Piron when younger with Lionel Messi
Today, Naor Piron — who began receiving help from Simcha LaYeled when he was just six years old — is aged 20, the same age as the charity, and despite his physical problems, has joined the Israeli army.
“Because of the situation after October 7,” says Piron, “everyone in Israel feels they want to do something to help. For young people like my son, in a wheelchair, it’s not so easy. But for the army, it’s sending an important message that people with special needs who want to be soldiers, can be soldiers.”
Piron became interested in Simcha LaYeled when he was still a government minister and watched how Naor and other special needs friends blossomed under the mentor scheme operated by the charity. It doesn’t have a central building but numerous hubs all over the country from which its volunteers and staff visit individuals in their homes or in hospital, giving them “a sense of community”, says Piron, and making them feel part of a greater whole. “I felt that the work inspired trust from the young people and give them a lot of hope”, he says, adding that even today, Naor has a regular mentor who comes to see him and does “normal” things like taking him out for a beer — something highly appreciated by these young people,
Several times a year Simcha LaYeled runs wildly popular activity camps for upwards of 300-400 special needs young people, and Naor Piron can often be seen taking part as an alumnus of the movement.
But post-October 7 life has been much more difficult for every Israeli, and all the more so for the special needs community. Many of them, says the charity, could not leave their homes for months on end “for fear of being caught in a rocket attack and unable to reach a shelter or safe room in time. This forced seclusion exacerbated their sense of isolation and intensified their fears and anxieties; all of this had an adverse effect on their health”.
On top of that so many of the Simcha LaYeled staff and volunteers were called up for military service and thus were unable to visit their dedicated “clients”. More than a year after the outbreak of the war, the charity says, “there are 800 potential Simcha LaYeled children just among the evacuees living in hotels across Israel”. So the work, says Piron, is more vital than ever.
We talk about one of his more controversial suggestions made when still Education Minister, that the “Naqba”, as Arab Palestinians describe the birth of the state of Israel, should be taught in Israeli Jewish schools.
Piron says this is not what he thinks of as his legacy (it did not happen). But he does say that while Israel is “a Jewish, Zionist and of course democratic country”, it is nevertheless home to may different communities. “I think if we give them the opportunity to tell their story, they will be with us more. We need to listen to their stories if we want to live together. I want to listen, even if I don’t agree. And when I listen, they will also listen to what I have to say. And then we can discuss things together”.
I ask how he thinks the government has conducted the war so far and there is a sigh. Then he responds: “First, it’s not my job. But I was in government, and so I know how it works.” There is a pause. Then he says: “I think that they have not done enough for the hostages. I think that ‘Bring Them Home’ is not only a matter of morality, it’s very important to the national security of Israel. We need every soldier and every citizen to know that if something happens, the country will be there. And the tragedy is that on October 7, the country and the army were not there. So for me, ‘Bring Them Home’ is not wishful thinking or a prayer or hopes and dreams. If we don’t bring them home, we will break the society of Israel”.
Until today, Piron says, the war remains a presence on his doorstep. Some of his sons and sons-in-law are in army units fighting in Gaza and Lebanon. He spends his time advocating on behalf of Pnima and Simcha LaYeled.
The mayor (Or Piron) and her father Shai, the Oranit rabbi
Then he tells me, with the air of someone imparting a gleeful secret, that he and his daughter Or share a unique partnership. “I am the rabbi of our small town (Oranit, on the West Bank) — and she is the mayor!” Friday nights must be fun in their house.
Catch Shai and Naor Piron in London on November 30 in a special programme moderated by Shani Cohen, star of the satirical TV show, Erets Nehederet.
For tickets: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeN4o-HzQrMvmyKmmuZHUbUmVfRqyruOmjLTGqEAPaKcLQ7hA/viewform
For donations: via JNF UK, partners and sponsors: https://did.li/For-Donations-to-Simcha-Layeled-please-press-this-link-to-JNF-Uk
