In the early hours of October 7, 2023, Oz Avizov, who leads the diving unit of ZAKA, an Israeli rescue and recovery agency, headed straight to Israel’s border with Gaza.

“I went to help people and did what was needed,” said Avizov, whose unit usually searches for individuals missing at sea. “I did not think too much about it.”

But months later, after many sleepless nights, rising tension with his wife and alternating feelings of anger and apathy, he said he finally understood he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “It messed me up,” recalled Avizov, who has volunteered for over 15 years for ZAKA, which undertakes the gruesome task of collecting human remains for burial.

What he needed, he realized, was some kind of supportive community. In January 2024, he helped establish ZAKA’s Resilience Division, which offers treatment options for those who responded to the Hamas attack—the majority of them haredi men like Avizov.

In April, drawing on his background as a diver, Avizov informally took a few ZAKA friends who had never dived before for an excursion in the Red Sea. Teaching them the basics, and even holding their hands for support, he said the men found a measure of relief.

“They came out of the water relaxed and happy,” said Avizov, who later learned that many started sleeping better at night.

Avizov then turned to Vered Atzmon-Meshulam, a psychologist and trauma specialist who had been appointed head of the Resilience Division, to see if his efforts could be incorporated into a formal program. 

Atzmon-Meshulam recognized the connection between the rhythmic breathing needed for diving and the breathing techniques used to reduce stress and treat depression.

“Trauma creates disconnection from the body, from breathing, from the sense that the world is safe,” said Atzmon-Meshulam, who has staged a series of wellness retreats for ZAKA’s 3,000 volunteers. “Diving in the sea offers an extraordinary healing space: quiet, slowing down, a feeling of floating and weightlessness.”

Avizov has so far taken some 70 volunteers diving. It is now his dream, he said, for psychologists to study the benefits of diving therapy to potentially help others suffering from trauma.