Profiles In Activism: Nurit Weiss Grunfeld and the Chic Shelter Boutique

This is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of articles that describe people who are taking action to help Israel in this time of crisis. If you live here, you see the effects of the war and the deluge of global anti-Israel hatred on people in their everyday lives.

Virtually everyone is stressed out and exhausted. Military (reserve) duty is putting a huge strain on families and individuals. At the IDF base where I daven every morning, for instance, we recently said mazel tov and “b’hatzlacha” to a reservist who had been on milium duty for 900 days. He was finally going home after almost three years. His story is far from unusual.

If you live here, you see the effects of the war and the deluge of global anti-Israel hatred on people in their everyday lives.

Most Jews in Israel and abroad want to help. A few, though, resolve to make a difference. They take the initiative, setting up organizations that direct aid and volunteer efforts to make a tangible impact.

This is the story of Nurit Weiss Grunfeld, who made Aliyah three years ago and now lives in Netanya. For Nurit, the war presented a moment when it was impossible to stand back and do nothing. As she put it, “People say the war is difficult. It’s more than difficult—it’s catastrophic. The impact is so much bigger and deeper than most people realize. Unless you spend time with the families, the wounded, and the communities carrying this burden, it’s almost impossible to understand the scale of what Israel is living through.”

For Nurit, the war presented a moment when it was impossible to stand back and do nothing.

She sees suffering throughout Israeli society. She said, “The suffering is everywhere. It touches every part of society. You see young families whose lives have been shattered, parents burying children, and children growing up having lost a parent, a sibling, a cousin, or a neighbor. Some marriages are destroyed, as are businesses, careers, and finances. It’s a level of national trauma that is hard to put into words.”

She described her experiences with the young Israelis who are sacrificing so that the rest of us can be safe. “These are 19-, 20-, and 21-year-olds,” she remarked. “They’ve given up so much. Instead of dating, building careers, and planning their futures, they are fighting a war and burying their friends. Some have lost their limbs, their eyesight, hearing, and the basic ability to function.”

Instead of dating, building careers, and planning their futures, they are fighting a war and burying their friends.

“I attended the shiva for a 19-year-old lone soldier,” Nurit added. “His parents had come from Russia. Looking at them, I realized they were young enough to be my own children. All I could think was: this young man should have been living his life—not being mourned while his friends carried his coffin.”

On occasion, Nurit visits wounded and grieving families. She shared, “I visited a young widow whose husband had been killed, leaving her with two small children. A year later, she was trying to rebuild her life and support her family. Her mother-in-law, having lost her son, was a shell of the person she had once been. There was nothing I could say that could ease her pain, and I know I’ll never forget the look on her face.”

From these experiences, Nurit came to the realization that she couldn’t fix the politics or change the world by arguing online. However, as she put it, “What I could do was help the people who are carrying this burden every day with basic business skills I acquired over the years as an entrepreneur and salesperson.

To realize this idea, Nurit launched the Chic Shelter Boutique, which sells specialty items like mugs, aprons, totes, T-shirts, and more with humor, design, and inspirational messages. 100% of the net profits go to support soldiers, veterans, and families in practical ways.

Launching Chic Shelter presented a host of challenges to Nurit, who has had to learn design, merchandising, social media, sourcing, distribution, and pricing—with the goal of building something that could be both meaningful and financially sustainable. She remarked, “I have learned that you don’t have to be an expert to make a difference. You just have to be willing to begin and take some risks.”

So far, it’s working. In less than a year since its founding, Chic Shelter, through the boutique and fundraising initiatives, has directed nearly 200,000 NIS toward supporting soldiers, veterans, and their families, including therapeutic services and specialized equipment. For example, working with The Ariel Center, Chic Shelter funded almost two combat units to receive sports medicine care for one year. Other examples include participating in the purchase of a specialized wheelchair for a young soldier who lost his legs, as well as supplying tactical backpacks and lone soldier kits for those still serving.

In less than a year since its founding, Chic Shelter, through the boutique and fundraising initiatives, has directed nearly 200,000 NIS toward supporting soldiers, veterans, and their families, including therapeutic services and specialized equipment.

Chic Shelter also supports organizations that help with the hidden costs of the war on IDF soldiers and their families. As Nurit observed, “The tragedy isn’t only the physical injuries. It’s the emotional devastation that spreads through families and communities, which unfortunately at times results in suicides that are not always addressed.”

Nurit’s innovation with Chic Shelter is to offer products that people might buy in the course of their everyday shopping. It is not a tzedakah fund, but rather a way to contribute to important work with money that would be spent anyway.

Nurit doesn’t see Chic Shelter as a replacement for the incredible work that is already being done. She said, “People should absolutely continue donating, volunteering, making barbecues for soldiers, raising funds, and supporting Israel in every way possible. Chic Shelter is simply one more way for people to help.”

To this point, Nurit noted that not everyone has the ability to make large donations. Chic Shelter gives everyone an opportunity to participate. Some people buy an item, others may donate artwork or handcrafted pieces for us to sell, and others simply help spread the word. “Everyone can get involved,” she said. “Whether it’s with me or other organizations, there’s a great deal of need, but also an overwhelming amount of generosity of love in this country. We all have much work to do, and we must take care of the soldiers and their families”

Photo by Tomer Dahari (https://www.pexels.com/@tomer-dahari-571687/)