About Nefesh

Why Nefesh exists

Most Israelis who need emotional support don't have a therapist on speed dial. They have hours-long waits for kupat cholim referrals, ₪400-an-hour private sessions, friends and family who try their best, and 3 AM nights when none of that is reachable. The result is the same gap millions of Israelis quietly live with: wanting help, knowing where help theoretically is, and not having anything that actually meets them where they are when it matters.

The international AI mental wellness apps — Woebot, Wysa, Tess — caught a real need, but they were built in English for English-speaking users. The translation problem isn't just words. It's how Israelis grieve, how military service shapes anxiety, how families pressure, how postpartum gets minimized, how burnout looks here. None of that lands the same in a chatbot trained on US clinical English.

Nefesh is the version of this tool that was supposed to exist for Hebrew speakers, and didn't.

What it is — and what it isn't

Nefesh is a companion. It runs on WhatsApp, in Hebrew (and English when you want), available 24/7. It uses the same evidence-based methods clinicians use: CBT, DBT, ACT, and mindfulness. It listens, it offers grounding exercises, it helps you name what you're feeling and try one small thing.

Nefesh is not a therapist. It does not diagnose. It does not replace medication or professional care. In acute crises it points you to the right resources — Eran, Sahar, your doctor, the ER. The whole product is designed to complement professional care, not compete with it.

Founder

Nefesh was started by Avi Atias, an Israeli founder. The trigger was personal — watching people close to him struggle to reach support during exactly the hours when support wasn't available — and professional, having spent years in technology with a long-running interest in how AI could carry weight responsibly in places like this.

The principle Avi keeps coming back to: build the tool we'd be willing to hand to someone we love, on the worst night of their life. That standard quietly drives every decision — the tone of the bot, what it never says, where the data lives, how prices are set.

"I'm not trying to disrupt therapy. I'm trying to make sure no one in Israel sits alone at 3 AM because the system isn't open yet."
— Avi Atias, founder

How we built it

• Language model: Anthropic's Claude, chosen specifically because of its safety posture and its strength in nuanced, non-English clinical conversation.
• Channel: WhatsApp, where Israelis already are. No app to install, no learning curve.
• Hosting: Hetzner data centers in Germany. EU-based, GDPR-compliant, no US-jurisdiction data exposure.
• Privacy: conversations encrypted in transit and at rest. Never sold. Full deletion on request.
• Methods: CBT, DBT, ACT, mindfulness — blended the way good clinicians blend, not applied dogmatically.

Who Nefesh is for

• People between therapy sessions who want continuity.
• People on a waiting list, who need something now.
• People who can't afford private therapy yet but need more than YouTube and friends.
• Israelis abroad who want to think and feel in Hebrew with someone who gets it.
• Anyone whose hardest hours don't line up with clinic hours.

Who Nefesh is not for

• People in acute crisis — please reach Eran (1201) or your local ER.
• People under 18 — Nefesh is built and tested for adult users only.
• People looking for a diagnosis, prescription, or formal medical care.