Tehila Kalagy

The present article examines differences among various sectors of Israeli society – secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox – in terms of their mechanisms for coping with the events of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Iron Swords War. The research focused on resilience resources at the personal (sense of coherence and hope), familial (quality of family life), communal (community resilience), and national (national resilience) levels, and their relationship to emotional distress (anxiety, depression, and somatization). A total of 1,024 participants from different societal groups completed self-report questionnaires that included sociodemographic questions and scales for measuring sense of coherence, hope, quality of family life, community resilience, national resilience, and psychological/ emotional distress. The ultra-Orthodox and religious participants demonstrated high levels of personal, familial, and communal resilience, alongside low levels of emotional distress. In contrast, secular participants reported lower levels of resilience resources and higher levels of distress. Relationships between sociodemographic variables (e.g., age, gender, and socioeconomic status) and resilience resources and emotional distress were also explored. The findings indicated that the sense of coherence was the most significant resource for reducing psychological distress across all groups, while national resilience was not significant among the ultra-Orthodox population. The article underscores the critical role of various support systems in enhancing resilience and the importance of cultural adaptation in designing interventions. Additionally, it is suggested that the lower exposure of the ultra-Orthodox community to the events of October 7th may have contributed to their higher resilience levels. The findings provide insight into the impact of national crises on Israeli society and offer a foundation for developing tailored policies to strengthen resilience and reduce emotional distress during future crises.