“My name is Niv, I’m 23 years old and I live with my parents. I was born with PDD-NOS – a light case of autism, and without an outer left ear, so I can only hear with my right ear.
I have completed three and a half years of full voluntary military service. I served in the elite Duvdevan unit as a cook. I enjoyed every minute of it and the soldiers enjoyed me… I like to cook – it’s therapeutic for me?
Today, with the support and guidance of Bayit Cham, I have been working for half a year at “Eretz Bereshit” as a sous chef – the chef’s right-hand man ? I also feed the goats every morning before I start working in the kitchen ?
The bosses, the chef and the entire staff are wonderful people.
Once a week or two, Yehuda (a top-notch vocational coach at Bayit Cham) comes to see me. We sit and talk. I tell him about what I’m going through and we talk and see how we can solve the problem. Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand situations, such as pressure that at times I don’t feel understood.
But without a doubt, from a young age I showed my parents that I know how to be independent. It’s really not self-understood.
Besides, from a young age I have always loved music. I began playing guitar when I was 16, writing and composing.
My dream is to learn more cooking and music.
It is important to me, as a person with disabilities, to show everyone that the sky’s the limit and that everyone should see that we, the “different” population, can also find a job and make a respectable living.”

Is there anything more exciting than that?! We’ve been in love with Niv for a long time…
Niv, you are a role model‼️ – in motivation, drive, active doing and smiling, inside and out! We have no doubt that you will go far and we wish you much success.

Golan Heights resident Matan Gutman is employed through Bayit Cham’s supported employment program. Together with his vocational coach, our very own Billie Levy, he is undergoing an amazing career development process!
Last week was one of the highlights of his blossoming, promising future when he told his life story to community members at a gathering called “Extraordinary February.”
Matan currently manages the laundromat at the Ramot Hotel located on the north side of the Sea of Galilee?. In recent months, he has expressed a need to tell the world his story, his challenges and successes. His dream was to show parents of children with special needs that it’s not terrible, that it’s possible to succeed, that we are all different from each other in one way or another and that is the beauty.
So after writing and preparing his speech with Billie, and again rewriting and being even more precise, he bravely stood in front of a large audience in the Bnei Yehuda library auditorium and shared his moving, empowering story.
Good job, Matan!! You are exceptionally talented and we’re so proud of you? ! With such determination how can you not succeed?! ♥ ️
Congratulations as well to our wonderful Billie who accompanied him every step of the way??
And what about you? Embrace the message? We could not have expressed it better than this…

We promised you some more recipes so here is a really delicious one that is good for the heart♥️
The amazing Ro’i works in Vardinon – a famed bedding store chain – and receives vocational coaching from Bayit Cham. Here’s his recipe for a personal miracle that increases his light:

Friends
Work in the mall
Co-workers at the store
Social gatherings with fun guests at candle-lighting in the evening in the apartment with flat-mates
Ro’i usually takes a little bit of everything and serves it up on a platter of cooperation that really adds zest to the taste, with a smile, acceptance at the workplace and an opportunity for advancement!
Marcel, a co-worker, had to add his opinion of the recipe?: Ro’i is our light in the store☀️, he helps the employees and smiles at everyone, helps the customers politely and with joy – he really spreads light!
The recipe is definitely recommended?. Try it and tell us in the comments how it turned out …
Thank you very much Ro’I; we are proud of you ?
Happy third Chanuka candle!?
Follow us for more recipes!

For the past seven months, the lovely 24-year-old Hodaya has been part of Bayit Cham’s supported employment program, under the loving guidance of Dina Allal, one of our expert coaches in Israel’s central region. Hodaya has Asperger’s (on the autism spectrum) and the main challenges she faces are difficulties in communication and in interpreting social situations. In supporting her, we focus on analyzing social situations at work and coaching her how to react appropriately and adapt her behavior. Today Hodaya has already made amazing strides in her inspiring journey. She works as a distribution manager at a “Yesh Chesed” supermarket, a position that is perfectly suited to her strengths. Her great attention to detail, meticulousness and the need for repetition that characterize her, together with her improved social skills, make Hodaya an outstanding, devoted employee ??.
Besides for her outstanding performance on the job, in her free time Hodaya loves to embroider and these days she is making some more progress in her journey… Hodaya is opening a Gemach, loaning beautiful bris pillows – her original, hand-embroidered creations! ? She is eagerly awaiting the first borrower ?
In addition, Dina is looking into an opportunity to fulfill another of Hodaya’s dreams – to give embroidery lessons at Bayit Cham’s Shiluvim vocational rehab center or somewhere else♥️
We are proud of and excited for Hodaya! We wish her lots of success‼️ (and many thanks to our champion coach, Dina??)
As to you – if you are preparing for a bris, Hodaya will be happy to lend you a pillow. Ring her up at 055-6811112.
Share and tag where relevant… Mazal tov♥️♥️♥️

Oriya’s story is extraordinarily moving, just like her amazing, winning personality.
Oriya, 30 years old, went blind at the age of 15…
At the time, she was still secular in a regular school. It all started when, in the middle of running in a sports class, she crashed into a tree? Her sight began to deteriorate until it disappeared completely in just 3 months – an extremely rare rate (she broke all medical records)…
When she completely lost her vision, she was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. After she regained consciousness, she opened her eyes and asked the professor who treated her, “Is this how Hadassah Hospital is trying to save on electricity??” He gave her a big hug and told her that it was only her eyes♥️
Oriya began a rehabilitation process in which she had to learn everything from scratch: how to bathe herself, prepare food, read, write, choose what to wear, walk down the street or any action that seems ever so trivial to sighted people. Of course, it wasn’t easy and all the more so, while coping with tragedies over the years such as the untimely death of her dearest brother and her complex medical condition unrelated to her blindness.
Oriya, as befits her, somehow found the strength to cope. She realized that her inner and spiritual world was more important to her and she even started to study in a religious seminary. From there she went on to meet her amazing husband who is also blind (from birth), a happy, talented person who plays 14 musical instruments and is a chazzan! Together they are raising their sweet 9.5-year-old son in an inspiring way‼️
Oriya functions fully at home and her house is spit-spot (according to her “she was born with bleach in her hands”?). She invests in her son’s upbringing (cutting, drawing, pasting with him…) with great love ?❤️?. Oriya says that when he was younger, he would ask her: “Ima, right you’re peeking?”
Oriya learned to look inward, to find the joy within and not to depend on the mirrors that reflect from the outside. Thanks to her blindness, she is a sensitive, attentive person and she enjoys everything that she experiences with her other senses – like walking barefoot and feeling the cool, clean floor, feeling the rough texture of the scrumptious schnitzel she made, and more…
Recently, after being a full-time homemaker for a long while, Oriya started going to a rehabilitation day center where she makes amazing things like parts for miniatures, artfully designed candles, etc. much to the pride of her son and husband?
She began a vocational process with Sarah, our lovely, expert vocational coach at Bayit Cham, where she is preparing for the world of work. Together they are thinking which career best suits her. Oriya knows for sure that it is important for her to have a job that is honorable, rewarding and one that matches her talents and skills (and there are many! You haven’t heard her sing, for example…)
Oriya’s message is that blindness is an advantage, not a disadvantage. Blindness makes it possible to see people as they are, to touch and see directly into their hearts, without visual barriers, relating with great sensitivity to others’ deep, inner qualities without being blinded by outward appearances (pun intended) ♥️
And we say: Oriya – it’s our privilege to serve you!!! You are amazing with your determination and your power to cope.