Article by Raphaël Hassine published in Actualité Juive number 1751
In 1980, dental surgeon Elie Jaoui and his colleague Guy-Pierre Hakon founded the Voluntary Dentists for Israel association. At that time, they would not have imagined that the project would continue more than forty years later…
« Today, I am 82 years old, I am out of the circuit. It’s an extraordinary story that happened to me… » It is full of nostalgia and pride that Elie Jaoui, at the beginning of our interview, pronounces these few words which perfectly introduce the wonderful epic of the Volunteer Dentists for Israel association. “ During a dental conference in Jerusalem in 1980, a colleague stood up and said: “In Israel, dental costs are very expensive, there are many children who cannot get treatment.” He offered to organize something to help them, and four people volunteered », says Elie Jaoui. These dentists then met in Paris upon returning from Israel and decided to create the association Dentists Volunteers for Israel (DVI). “ My late colleague Guy-Pierre Hakon and I contacted Jerusalem City Hall “, he specifies. The Town Hall has agreed to provide them with a dental clinic with assistants. “ This is how we both started for two weeks at our expense », continues Elie Jaoui. After caring for children in Jerusalem during these two weeks, the two volunteers proposed to those in charge of Jerusalem City Hall to continue this initiative with colleagues. They were then joined by French, Belgian, Italian colleagues… “ We placed advertisements in dental faculties, we contacted friends. One thing led to another, as it was an extraordinary action, there were many volunteers “, he remembers. And this association still exists today! Elie Jaoui – who, after coming to Jerusalem for ten years for this project, no longer plays a role there – attended its twentieth anniversary in Jerusalem in 2001 in the presence of the mayor at the time, Teddy Kollek. To finish, Eli Jaoui tells us an anecdote with a smile: “ I receive a child with his yarmulke and his tzitsits. I look at his teeth and I tell him (in Hebrew): “What are all these decayed teeth?! God gave you healthy and beautiful teeth to smile and eat. Pray to pull out bad teeth.” He tells me that this prayer does not exist. I tell him there is one: “Blessed are you, Lord, king of the universe, who commands us to extract diseased teeth.” He smiles and I extract a few teeth without him saying a word. »
By Raphaël Hassine for Actualité Juive number 1751
