On July 3, a flight landed at Ben-Gurion Airport carrying 14 American military veterans. Waiting at the arrivals gate to meet them was Judy Isaacson Elias, and for her, the moment was bittersweet. The group arriving represented the final cohort of Heroes to Heroes (HTH), the organization Elias founded 16 years ago to provide spiritual and emotional healing to American combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and moral injury. After the July trip, the organization will officially close its doors.
It is the end of a unique chapter in US-Israel relations, one defined not by diplomatic treaties, but by a genuine attempt to put fractured human lives back together. The foundation has brought more than 550 American veterans to Israel, pairing them with close to 200 IDF veterans who understand that the battles of war don’t necessarily end on the battlefield.
For Elias, a 66-year-old Modern Orthodox Jewish woman from Florida, the mission was a direct projection of her own family story. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, she is the middle daughter of Irving Meyer Isaacson, a proud World War II veteran of the US Army 80th Infantry. Her father landed on the second day of Normandy, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and helped liberate a concentration camp. The trauma of the war followed him home.
Finding purpose
Elias described her childhood home as highly stressful and chaotic, an environment dominated by her father’s unspoken demons. Elias rebelled against both her family and her faith, convinced that Judaism was ruining her life. At 16, she refused to attend her family Passover Seder, walking out of the house, and starting down a dangerous path of academic failure and self-destruction.
Desperate to save his daughter, her father asked her to go to Israel on a United Synagogue Youth pilgrimage. Reluctant and fearing she would have religion forced upon her, Elias only agreed because Israel had no legal drinking age and because her father asked her to.
That trip changed everything. As her group approached the Western Wall, Elias broke down, overwhelmed by a sudden sense of accountability to the heritage she had rejected. Placing her hand on the stones, she realized she was not alone. She resolved to find her mission, committed to keeping kosher, and later returned to Israel for her junior year, attending Hebrew University.
Elias earned a social work degree and went on to a successful career in corporate advertising and media. By the time she married in 1987, she and her first husband committed to raising their two sons within an observant, Zionist framework.
Her father passed away following a car accident in 2001. It was only during the shiva week that Elias discovered he had spent the final 20 years of his life quietly volunteering to help wounded veterans.
Eight years later, in 2009, Elias accepted an invitation to visit wounded American soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. She began researching the shocking American veteran suicide rate, which claims roughly 22 veterans every single day, and realized that standard clinical models lacked two essential elements for healing: faith and belonging.
Remembering how Israel had healed her own broken teenage spirit, Elias launched Heroes to Heroes in March 2010. The non-denominational program utilizes a 12-month curriculum centered around a 10-day spiritual journey to Israel.
The goal was not hasbara – political public relations – but an open environment in which non-Jewish, mostly Christian American, veterans could explore self-forgiveness alongside Israeli peers.
The program also became the catalyst for the next chapter of Elias’s personal life. In 2016, the by-then-divorced Elias led her first all-female veteran cohort to Israel. One of the IDF volunteers on the trip introduced Elias to her father, Zev Elias, a retired surgeon and an American Air Force veteran who served during Desert Storm. By 2018, they were married and began running the foundation as a team.
Zev attained rabbinical ordination and served as the organization’s universal chaplain – which is how Rabbi Dr. Zev Elias became a central pillar for the visiting heroes. Because the program was non-denominational, having a Jewish chaplain focused on a universal relationship with God allowing Christian veterans to discuss their deepest spiritual struggles without shame.
The focus remained squarely on personal healing, opening doors for veterans like 42-year-old Texan Monty Ward to confront their trauma. Ward returned home from his multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with night terrors and survivor’s guilt that left him suicidal.
In Israel, his perspective shifted entirely. Initially struggling with feelings of unworthiness, he found steady, non-judgmental support through daily conversations with Chaplain Zev.
That spiritual grounding culminated in a powerful moment of immersion at the Jordan River.
“As I came up from the water, I felt as if all the wrong I had done, all my mistakes, rushed out of my body,” Ward recalled of his baptism. “I can only describe it as emerging from a frozen lake. From that moment, I felt like that was the moment of letting go I had needed for so long.”
Since returning home, Ward credits the experience with helping to save his life, allowing him to reduce medication, kick addictions, and rebuild relationships with family.
The cross-cultural connection altered lives on both sides. Secular IDF volunteers, seeing the profound faith of the American Christians, sometimes reconnected with their own Judaism, sometimes donning tefillin for the first time in their lives. Participating Israeli soldiers reported being deeply moved by the immense gratitude for Israel’s survival shown towards them by the Americans.
A lasting legacy
The decision to close the foundation this month was accelerated by the realities of recent years. Pandemic restrictions initially broke the program’s momentum, making international travel impossible.
Just as the organization regained its footing, the geopolitical landscape shifted. A cohort in 2025 found themselves caught in Israel during an Iranian attack. Eventually, growing security complexities and soaring insurance costs made the program unsustainable.
There was also a shifting personal calling. Having spent her youth visiting family at Kibbutz Be’eri, the events of October 7 created a powerful urge to pivot her focus directly toward national Israeli resilience. Elias recently accepted a position as the director of development for Florida and national outreach at Israel’s Defense and Security Forum, known as Habithonistim.
“Now that it is coming to an end, it is bittersweet,” Elias said. “I founded HTH in my dad’s memory. We saved many lives, and for that alone, it is a long-lasting legacy. Joining the forum will give me the opportunity to serve our people and build a safe Israel for our grandchildren and beyond. Heroes to Heroes has prepared me for this moment.”■