The story behind Romi Lev
“I was searching for a group where I would not have to choose between women who understand stillbirth and women who understand what it means to live far from home.”
My name is Lihi. I am the mother of Lucy, Annabel and Romi, and Ben's wife. We moved to the Netherlands in 2019.
On 27 December 2025, Romi was born without signs of life when I was 34 weeks pregnant. She was meant to join our family as Lucy and Annabel's little sister, but instead of bringing her home, we had to say goodbye to her.
After the stillbirth, I searched for a support group in Hebrew. I needed a place where I could speak in my first language without translating my pain or explaining every word and cultural context.
I joined an online group for Israeli women living in Israel who had also experienced stillbirth. Although the women understood the depth of the loss, I did not feel that I fully belonged.
My experience in the Netherlands was different. The hospital procedures were different. The birth, the goodbye and the days that followed were handled differently. Events in Israel affected the women in the group in another way, while I was facing the loss far from my family, friends and the support that might have surrounded me had I been living in Israel.
I realised that I needed a space capable of holding both parts together: the loss of a baby through stillbirth and the experience of being an Israeli woman living abroad.
Romi Lev Foundation was born from that need. It carries Romi's name, but it exists for every Israeli woman living outside Israel who feels she is going through this loss too far from home.
My aim is to create the place I was searching for: a professionally facilitated support group in Hebrew, held online, with women who understand both the loss and the distance.
