This Canadian social worker is helping bereaved Israelis ID the remains of Hamas attack victims

Canadian-Israeli Joy Frenkiel, formerly of Montreal, is a social worker helping bereaved families of the Israelis murdered or still missing after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. She visited an army base Friday Oct. 20 to help soldiers charge their devices. (Submitted photo)

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Canadian social worker Joy Frenkiel can’t get two particular sounds out of her head: IDF soldiers hammering wood to build coffins, and the motors of refrigerated containers storing hundreds of still-unidentified bodies at an Israeli military base. Frenkiel moved to Israel from Chomedey, north of Montreal, in 1996; since the horrific murders of at least 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals earlier this month by Hamas, the Ramat Gan resident has been helping bereaved families go through what is likely the hardest experience of their lives.

Frenkiel not only travels with military teams on solemn home visits to break the news to next of kin—she also supports grieving parents, spouses and other relatives when they go in-person to the morgue at the Shura military base near Tel Aviv, to officially identify the remains.

For Frenkiel, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, seeing the condition of many of the bodies has been almost beyond description. But, as she tells The CJN Daily‘s host Ellin Bessner in the third episode of our series on “The Helpers” in this war, Frenkiel is honouring those who were murdered to fulfill the mitzvah of giving kindness during the darkest period of Israel’s modern history.

What we talked about

  • Help ZAKA, an Israeli organization giving the victims of Hamas a Jewish burial
  • Read more about the work of ZAKA in The CJN archives (2015)
  • Meet the Canadian couple who hid for their lives near the Gaza border when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, on The CJN Daily

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer.Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.