Yotam’s Life Association

Already during Yotam’s shiva, we knew we would create something significant to honor his legacy. It was clear to us that this would be a lifelong project, memorializing him through activities that would benefit others, following his path.

In his lifetime, Yotam was considered a mental health warrior. He struggled with complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder.
He also suffered from a physical illness that caused him pain, and to relieve his suffering, he took narcotic painkillers and became addicted to them.
He managed to cope with all these challenges in his unique way, without medication or hospitalization.
The tools he used were music, animals, sports, and family support.

Music – Yotam played drums and was a member of the band Perspore, which played and sang in the metal genre. Music was Yotam’s lifeblood, both in listening and in playing.

Animals – They provided Yotam with a safe, non-judgmental, and accepting space. He loved all animals, but especially cats. He had two cats of his own, Mishmish and Ramzi, and at his parents’ house, there were eight more.

Sports – Yotam was always a strong and competitive athlete. He strived for success and pushed the limits of his physical and mental abilities through running, basketball, and CrossFit.
He trained at CrossFit Sderot, where he found a home and a family that embraced him despite his challenges and encouraged him to find more and more strength within himself.

Family Support – As Yotam’s family, we were his supportive environment—non-judgmental but always striving to maximize his potential. We accepted him with love, even in his weakest moments and falls. As a family, we learned how to live alongside such a complex and sensitive person and to see his inner strength.

We know that Yotam’s life story has much to teach.
From this learning, we believe we can help many people, especially teens and children—mental health warriors, whom we see as true heroes.
We want to help them and also teach the world around them to accept and empower them.

That is why we founded the Yotam’s Life Association.
The association focuses on supporting and empowering the families of mental health heroes and the heroes themselves through the four main tools that helped Yotam discover his inner superpowers. These tools enabled him to survive Hamas captivity, escape, and leave this world as a free person:
Music / Sports / Animals / Family Support.

The association will operate by establishing a treatment center that integrates all these therapeutic tools, working with families that need guidance, support, and rehabilitation.
The association will also engage in creative endeavors, such as producing a memorial album in Yotam’s honor and supporting existing centers, like the CrossFit center in Sderot, among others.
In the future, and with your support, we aim to establish a center where people can acquire tools for positive thinking, coping with grief, loss, severe illness, and other uncertainties through methods based on Iris and the family’s worldview.