Netiv HaAsara, Yad Mordecai, the Nova site, and The Car Wall

Netiv HaAsara:

"Netiv L'Shalom"

 

Netiv HaAsara is a moshav (farming collective) that was founded in 1973 in the Sinai Peninsula, but was evacuated in 1982 due to the Camp David Accords, and relocated to where it is now, just north of Gaza.  the Peace Wall pictured above is made of thousands of small mosaic tiles made by hand, and displayed on both sides of the security wall.  the moshav was attacked on October 7th, losing 20 people, and were subsequently evacuated due to the war.  most members of the moshav have been slowly returning to their homes, and the Peace Wall has recently been reopened to tourists.  we were only there for a short time for security reasons, hearing an account of their experiences of that awful day from a woman who lost her husband and son, and gives the tourists her talks as part of her path to healing. 

 

detail of the wall tiles, blown up from the shots I took from the bus.  unfortunately I did not take the opportunity to get a close-up shot of them. 

  

display:  a map of Israel (Gaza in red), an aerial view of the moshav, and pictures of the people who were killed by terrorists on October 7th.

  

 

after the talk, our bus took us to the far side of the wall so we could look at the border with Gaza, and enjoy the small peace park the moshav residents had erected there.  it was nice, but felt sad and tense, and I much preferred looking at the lovely homes and imagining what it must be like to live in such a beautiful place.  even the many bomb shelters were painted works of art!

 

bomb shelter

rocket fragments

 

 

border fence with Gaza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yad Mordechai:

after our short visit to the moshav, we had another quick stop at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai for lunch.  I could have spent the rest of my life there.  the kibbutz was founded in 1936 near Netanya then moved to its current location in 1943, and renamed to memorialize one of the commanders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - Mordechai Anielewicz.  even though we were just there for lunch, I found a part of myself there.  Mordechai Anielewicz was one of my father's heroes, and even though I didn't know who he was or what he did ( I do now), I heard his name a lot while I was growing up.  the town my family lived in during the years I was 4 through 12 had a statue of a soldier at a crossroads that my father called Mordechai Anielewicz.  I didn't know why, but I knew it reminded him of a statue in Israel that meant something to him.  

so here we are, a bus full of people with mental illness on a tour with their care-workers, with the tour guide babbling on in a language I mostly don't understand so I'm mostly not listening, and somehow I become vaguely aware of the fact that this place is named after That Guy whose name my father used to call That Statue, and as we drive around a curve by the cow sheds, I catch a glimpse of the head of a statue, and think...no...could it be?!  and it was!  it was him!  the real statue of the real Mordechai Anielewicz!  I ate my lunch quickly and asked the bus driver if we could stop and see the statue, and he said, that no, it was all the way over by the cow sheds and the bus was facing the other way, blah blah blah, so I ended up running through the kibbutz like a crazy person on a mission in the direction of where I thought the cow sheds were.  I was pretty close, because when I asked some people where it was, they said it was up the stairs which were a few yards away.  hooray!

I'm not in great shape these days, so by the time I got to the top of the stairs I was breathing hard, sweating profusely, and feeling a bit lightheaded, but...there he was!  and once upon a time, my father had stood right here looking up at him!  what a moment for me.  I'm tearing up right now thinking about it.  anyway, I didn't have much time and I'd left my group, so I texted my boss to let her know I was on the way and to please not leave without me while I snapped my few pics and hurried back.  down the 65 steps (yes, I counted) and then boldly walked up to the two folks I had asked for directions - because one of them was in a golf cart - and asked for a ride back to the bus so I wouldn't be too late.  we had a short conversation about how I was a new immigrant while I helped him dump the trash to make room for me to sit in the cart, and then back to the bus before the last of our group had boarded.  HUGE win!  my boss kindly asked if I found the statue, and I happily replied that I had.  and so much more, as well, but that's for another post.  😉

 

cotton fields always make me think of my dad

 

why do humans moo when we see cows?

there were several of these sculptures made out of old farm equipment - if I had had the time, I'd have taken pics of all of them.

💙

"Mordechai Anielewicz - Commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during WWII.  one of the leaders of the Hashomer Hatzair movement in Poland. died in the ghetto in May 1943.  Kibbutz Yad Mordechai is named after him.  the monument by Nathan Rappaport was erected in 1951." 

The Nova Site:

this was tough.  along the highway, memorials began to appear and I got a lot of shots of the road and missed the pictures of the people who were murdered, and the flowers/flags/stones that were left in their memory.  as we flew past, I could see that in the bomb shelters, there were pictures of people as well, presumably those that were killed inside of them.  I began to feel the weight of the sadness surrounding me.  there were thousands of stickers in honor of the missing and murdered, and all I had to offer were my prayers for peace for the dead, and for healing for those who survived.

 

 

 

 

memorial to Ran Gvili, one of the first warriors to rush into battle, and the last hostage (deceased) to be reclaimed from Hamas in Gaza

by the time we pulled up to the Re'im parking area, the site of the Nova Festival, I was already crying.  those trees...if you know you know, and if you don't, well...find out.  it was heartbreaking to see.  just utterly devastating to be there.  I didn't get any pictures of the memorial because one of our residents needed to talk, and that's what I was there for.  yes, we were on a sightseeing trip, but I was working, and this is what peer support is about.  this person in particular has been very closed off and in bad shape since they arrived at the hostel, so I skipped walking around the site to listen to them tell me about how their daughter was in the army and stationed nearby 'that day', how many friends she lost, how it was making them feel to be there, and other important pieces of their story.  I was grateful they chose to open up to me, and hoped it would help them take a step towards their own healing.  

feel free to do an internet search of 'Nova Memorial Site' - you will find more than enough pictures to tear your heart out.  also watch the films We Will Dance Again, Screams Before Silence, The Children of October 7, October 7:  Bearing Witness to the Massacre, Saturday October 7, The Road Between Us:  The Ultimate Rescue.  Screams Before Silence is the only one on this list I have seen because it is available for free on YouTube, and will tell you what you need to know about 'the trees' I mentioned, though I warn you, it's not easy to hear.  none of it is.  imagine what it must be like to have lived it, survived it, and try to carry on while many you know didn't.  many people have taken their own lives since then because they simply couldn't live with the guilt, or continue to endure the horrors they saw that day.  it's beyond tragic.

The Car Wall: 

this is another memorial made up of the burnt out cars and other vehicles evacuated from the Nova site.  I know it's strange that I took so many pics of bomb shelters, but I truly appreciate how this country takes the opportunity to take ugly slabs of concrete that are necessary for the protection of our people, and turn them into art.  it tells a truth about us that our enemies take billions in aid from so many sources and use it to construct the means to terrorize us rather than build a nice place for their citizens to live.  I wish more people understood that instead of falling prey to the propaganda war being waged against us to paint us as the Big Bad when we're doing our best to make the world a better place for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

there were signs in front of some of the cars with the names of the people they belonged to, some with memorials and/or pictures attached.  all of the signs had QR codes that could be scanned, and I'm sure they had all sorts of personal details about the people who once owned the cars but I couldn't bring myself to click on any of them.  I'm just not ready for that kind of digital engagement with death, especially when it was the result of an horrific terrorist attack.  many of our residents couldn't even bring themselves to get off the bus, let alone walk around the memorials, and I had to make sure I had the emotional capacity to be of use to them.  I wasn't in Israel during October 7, 2023 so my experience of that day was different from theirs, but it was a large part of the reason I decided to come, so it was important for me to be in those terrible spaces and feel what I felt there.  for instance - there was a group of men reciting the Mourner's Kaddish, and while it wouldn't have been right for me to join them, I did stand nearby, recite along with them, and say 'amen'.

 

 

 

finally, at the end of a long, emotional day, we finally got to the hotel where my boss generously switched rooms with me because she thought I needed more privacy than she did.  at first I was insulted, thinking no one wanted to room with me, but I decided to be grateful instead because I really did need my space.  

 

 

 

 

stay tuned for the next chapter - Kibbutz Hatzerim, Ne'ot Hovav, and Be'er Avraham!