On October 7, 2023, as Israel faced an unprecedented crisis, Roey Yesod found himself confronting a difficult question: Where could he make the greatest difference?

With decades of experience in emergency response, his first instinct was to head south and help. But he soon realized that the communities where he could have the greatest impact were those he had already spent years working alongside: Israel's Arab communities.

The war had exposed significant gaps in emergency preparedness, leaving many families without the resources, infrastructure, and support needed to protect themselves.

For Roey, the mission was clear. And it would ultimately lead to the creation of Sadad Center, a new Israeli nonprofit working to ensure that Arab communities have the tools, training, and partnerships they need to prepare for emergencies and recover from crises.

Today, with a $100,000 seed grant from CJP's Boston–Israel Fund, Sadad is helping lay the groundwork for a safer, more resilient Israeli society.

From Emergency Response to Lasting Change

In the first days following October 7, Roey helped establish the Emergency Support and Information Center for Arab Society in Kafr Qasem, an Arab city in central Israel.

Working alongside government ministries, the Home Front Command, police, and Arab local authorities, the center mobilized resources to meet urgent needs. Teams distributed emergency equipment, provided training, helped residents access essential services, and installed portable bomb shelters in vulnerable communities.

But one experience stayed with Roey.

In northern Israel, his team worked to install massive concrete bomb shelters in Arab towns and villages. Navigating narrow streets with trucks and cranes was a complicated operation. Yet everywhere they went, residents came outside to welcome them, often offering coffee and refreshments.

Behind those simple gestures was something much deeper: gratitude for a basic level of protection that too many families had been living without.

"Moments like these showed me how much something as basic as a bomb shelter can mean, to a single life and to an entire community," Roey recalls.

When the Emergency Center closed in May 2024, the needs remained.

Roey and his colleagues knew the work couldn't end there. Rather than wait for the next crisis, they began building an organization focused on long-term solutions.

A New Approach to Emergency Preparedness

Sadad was established to address a fundamental challenge: emergency preparedness requires more than equipment. It requires coordination, trusted relationships, local knowledge, and the ability to act quickly when lives are at risk.

The organization brings together government agencies, local authorities, civil society organizations, and residents to identify gaps and strengthen communities' ability to respond.

Its work focuses on improving access to emergency resources, expanding training, removing barriers, and helping local leaders build the capacity to protect their communities.

For Roey, the lesson is simple: preparation cannot begin when an emergency is already underway.

"I learned that saving lives also depends on connections: between information and action on the ground, between a community and its local authority, and between that authority and the national government."

Sadad's vision extends beyond wartime emergencies. Whether the next crisis is a war, earthquake, or public health emergency, the goal is to ensure communities are better equipped to respond and recover.

And while the work focuses on Arab citizens of Israel, its impact reaches further.

A society is stronger when every community has the ability to protect its people.

A Personal Commitment to Equality

For Roey, this mission is deeply personal, rooted in a conversation nearly 30 years ago.

In 1997, while visiting a museum with a friend from the Arab city of Tamra, his friend asked him a question that would shape his life's work.

"How can we, Jews and Arabs, be in dialogue when sewage is running down our streets?"

The question revealed something Roey has carried with him ever since: meaningful relationships between communities cannot be separated from the inequalities that shape everyday life.

Over the decades, he has responded to humanitarian crises in Israel and abroad, from supporting children displaced by war to helping Ukrainian refugees access food, housing, and medical care.

Those experiences reinforced his belief that protecting human dignity requires both immediate action and lasting structural change.

His motivation is also rooted in Jewish values.

"In Deuteronomy, we read: 'Justice, justice shall you pursue' (tzedek, tzedek tirdof). For me, this is a Jewish commandment, and it obligates me as a Jew."

For Roey, that responsibility means working toward an Israel where every family, regardless of background, has access to the protection and support they need.

How CJP Is Helping Build a More Resilient Israel

Through the Boston–Israel Fund, CJP invests in organizations working to address urgent needs while strengthening Israel's long-term future.

Sadad represents an important part of that commitment: supporting innovative approaches that strengthen communities, expand opportunity, and help build a more resilient Israeli society.

CJP's $100,000 seed grant will support Sadad as it develops its work and builds the partnerships and local capacity needed to address disparities in emergency preparedness.

The organization is also receiving foundational support from UJA-Federation of New York, which committed $1 million toward its establishment and first 18 months of operations.

For Roey, the partnership with North American Jewish communities represents something more meaningful than financial support.

"Our partners in the North American Jewish community—at UJA-Federation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (CJP), and other federations—have been a tremendous source of strength for me."

It is a powerful example of what can happen when communities across the world come together around a shared responsibility.

A Safer Future for Everyone

What inspires Roey most isn't the equipment or the infrastructure. It's the people.

It's the local officials determined to make their communities safer. The civil servants willing to confront longstanding disparities. And the partners who recognize that investing in the safety of one community strengthens the future of an entire society.

For Roey, the work ahead is about more than preparing for the next emergency. It's about building a future where every family can feel safer, every community can respond with confidence, and more Israelis have the opportunity to thrive.

"Supporting Sadad strengthens people and local capacity in the towns and villages themselves. That makes Arab citizens safer and, in turn, all of Israeli society more resilient."

Learn more about how CJP is investing in Israel's future through the Boston–Israel Fund.