At 76, David Weissenstern has collected the remains of the dead for most

of his adult life. But after the Oct. 7 attacks, in which Hamas-led fighters
killed about 1,200 people along Israel’s border with Gaza, he can no longer
stand the smell of grilled meat. The odor, he says, reminds him too much of
burned human flesh.

His son Duby Weissenstern, 48, has lost track of time after working
successive days and nights to recover those killed on Oct. 7. He now marks
time in relation to that date.

And his son-in-law Israel Ganot, 32, now gags at the smell of food that has
turned rotten. He was in the second wave of recovery workers who
reached bodies that had been trapped under rubble for weeks.

All three men are part of ZAKA, an Israeli nonprofit founded in 1995 whose
name is the Hebrew acronym for Disaster Victim Identification. Its black-
and-yellow vests have become synonymous with bus bombings and
shootings in Israel, and its members are often first and last on the scene,
rushing to collect every drop of blood and bone fragment for burial,
sometimes even before the police arrive.

Made up of more than 3,000 volunteers, most of them ultra-Orthodox

Jewish men, the group says it is driven by a holy mission to give families
closure after the violent death of loved ones.

But there is little closure for the volunteers.

The work, they say, can be psychologically taxing, with many not even
beginning to cope with the trauma of Oct. 7. And they are frequently called
upon to recount what they saw by Israeli government officials and
journalists, which can re-traumatize them, psychologists say.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

ADVERTISEMENT