In times of crisis, financial stability can be a lifeline. Discover how Ogen, an Israeli social lender, is stepping up to support reservists with an expanded loan fund tailored to their unique needs. This initiative not only provides financial relief but also strengthens the social fabric by empowering those who serve. Dive into the full story to learn how innovation in lending can drive meaningful change.

IN MEMORIAM: Israeli social lender Ogen expands loan fund for reservists. The fund, which is named for a fallen IDF reservist, Yuval Silber, whose family and friend looked for a way to commemorate him after he was killed in battle in Gaza

Article by Judah Ari Gross of ejewishphilanthropy.com.

The Israeli social lender Ogen is expanding its loan program for Israel Defense Forces reservists — the Yuval Fund, named in honor of Yuval Silber, a reservist who was killed in battle in November 2023 — as the organization has been “swamped” by more and more requests, according to Eldan Kaye, Ogen’s vice president of development and partnerships.

The Yuval Fund first launched in May as a collaboration between Ogen and the family of one of Silber’s close friends, Tomer Peled, who provided NIS 500,000 ($137,000) to kickstart it. The fund initially intended to offer no-interest loans of NIS 50,000 ($13,700) to people who had done at least 30 days of reserve duty. But as the number of requests grew, Ogen scaled back the loans to NIS 40,000 ($11,000) in order to help more people, Kaye said.

For Peled, the fund reflects his friend’s spirit and dedication to the country and to supporting those who serve it. Silber, a lieutenant in the Nahal Brigade, had been released from the military in mid-2023, and like many new Israeli veterans, he traveled to Asia for several months after his service. He was still there on Oct. 7.

“The moment he heard about it, he immediately decided to come back to Israel,” Peled said. “He got to Israel about three days after [the attacks], which was not an easy task.”

Photo credit: COURTESY

Cpt. (res.) Yuval Silber, who was killed in battle in Gaza on Nov. 1, 2023. His family and his friend’s family created a loan fund for reservists in his honor.

As he had been in a training role just before his release from the military, Silber was not officially part of a combat reserve unit, so he pushed to find one that would take him, Peled said. Eventually, he found a unit, but it had no need for another officer so he effectively forfeited his rank in order to join.

“He went in as a common soldier just because that was what was needed,” Peled said. “That’s the kind of guy we’re dealing with.”
In late October 2023, Silber’s unit was part of a reserve force that was tasked with conquering a Hamas training base. They came under fire by Hamas terrorists, and Silber was killed on Nov. 1, 2023. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.

“Yuval was a true hero, and we wanted to create a memorial that reflected this,” Silber’s sister, Shira, said in a statement. “We wanted something that truly made a positive impact… After some research, we realized [Ogen was] the organization that could help us fulfill our desire to honor Yuval.”

Peled said the families appreciated that a loan fund “helps empower the people who receive the money from our perspective. The reservists receiving the loans don’t feel that they are receiving “charity,” but that they are receiving help in exchange for serving the country, he said. “[A reservist thinks] ‘We gave something, we’re getting given something back,’” said Peled, who has served more than 250 days in the reserves out of the past 417 days since Oct. 7, 2023.

From the initial NIS 500,000 that was provided by Tomer Peled’s mother, Efrat, who serves as CEO of the Arison family’s investment arm, the fund grew considerably when an anonymous donor contributed NIS 9 million ($2.5 million) to the cause. An additional NIS 300,000 ($82,000) was raised through crowdfunding.

But this additional funding, which has allowed Ogen to provide no-interest loans to some 400 reservists, is also starting to run out, Kaye said, and yet the requests for additional loans continue to pour in.

“I remember the first conversations with Tomer. We said, ‘All right, let’s put together a million-shekel fund. We’ll distribute loans, interest free, up to NIS 50,000 for anyone who served over 30 days since Oct. 7. And we were just swamped by requests. I mean, swamped doesn’t even begin to describe it. Every week, there’s dozens of people that are approaching us,” Kaye said. “We’ve had to raise more and more funds for it… and we’re continuously getting more and more requests, and the capital has run out.”

In recent weeks, Ogen said it has raised roughly an additional $2 million for the fund — with donations coming from the Gottesman Family Foundation and the Seed the Dream Foundation, as well as “many, many others that prefer not to be named,” Kaye said.

And yet Kaye said that this will only last Ogen a few more weeks if requests continue at their current pace. “At any given moment, there’s probably around 200 requests that are live,” he said.

Nearly 300,000 Israelis were called into the reservists after the Oct. 7 attacks, with roughly a third of them serving more than 150 days, according to data from the IDF Manpower Directorate. Six percent have served more than 300 days.

In many cases, this comes at a significant financial cost, particularly for independent business owners, who are not compensated as easily as salaried workers.

Kaye recalled a recent recipient of a Yuval Fund loan, a DJ named Yehuda.

“Yehuda is a DJ by profession. His wife is also independently employed, and he’s already done 150 days of service and he has 70 more days coming up. As a DJ at weddings, you can imagine he can’t take on a client knowing that he may just not turn up,” Kaye said. “From his perspective and his wife’s perspective, they were a minute away from selling [his musical] equipment, selling their car, doing everything that they can to keep going. But never in their minds were they thinking, for a split second, to stop the reserve service, to stop volunteering.”
The Yuval Fund specifically offers “family loans” to the reservists, which are approved in roughly 24 hours, as opposed to the business loans that Ogen offers, which are normally for larger amounts, require longer wait times and also are low-interest, not no-interest, as these are.
That these are “family loans” also means that Ogen is not able to take advantage of the Jewish Federations of North America’s loan fund for this project, as that is specifically intended for small business loans, Kaye said.

Peled said his family and Silber’s appreciated that commemorating him through a loan program made this a long-term initiative, which can last into the future as the loans are repaid.

“The main thing was bringing it to Zionist Israelis, the people who served the country and deserve a loan like this. That was the starting point, and it’s blown up into something — honestly, I couldn’t imagine the scale. And it really warms our hearts, my family’s and the Silber family’s.”

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