Tuesday, April 9, 2024
This was a heavy day. We started by going south after breakfast to Mivatchim and heard story after story of 10/7 and what happened that day. The first sites to see were the blacked out spots on the side of the road - the shadow of what had been a car that was first riddled with bullets and then set fire. There were so many of them.
The moshav we went to help rebuild was called Mivtachim, which was established in 1947 as a kibbutz that was abandoned and in the 1950’s it was rebuilt by Jewish immigrants from Kurdistan as well as Morocco. The current population is like many kibbutzim and moshavim, it is made up of a security force and the small population of residents that would not leave under almost any circumstance. They are not at the point where families with children are returning but we were there to help build, plant, paint - whatever is needed on the day. I spent the day replanting gardens that were run over by tanks and then left to run wild. It was dusty work and by the time we broke for lunch, I was more than ready for a break. During lunch we heard how on 10/7, most of the security force died, but the population was saved by their heroic sacrifice.
Following this we headed to a more vulnerable community, Ofakim, a town of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, and has a larger ultra-orthodox community than Mivatchim does. This was the site of devastating fighting on 10/7 when the local populace and police force found they had to defend for themselves for a prolonged period of time prior to the arrival of IDF support. We walked through just a small corner of it where nearly every 5th house had an image out of people murdered by terrorists while trying to fend them off.
Following this we stopped for coffee at a roadside Aroma and there was a memorial to a young lady that had worked there before she was murdered on 10/7. We also met some young soldiers and gave them some of the gift boxes we made the day before. From here we went to the Nova Party site.
It was devastating.
So many people murdered where they stood, ran, tried to hide and so many kidnapped.
I do not have words for how I felt there.
So much life snuffed out.
An aspect for the survivors was also discussed that many of them had been taking drugs as part of their festival experience- in particular for those that had taken psychedelics, the subsequent psychological devastation has been ongoing. I cannot imagine.
These were people that were the opposite of soldiers outfitted for battle.
Then we traveled to Urim base where there was live music - the first I have heard in the last 6 months, since my father died - and most of our group was dancing with the soliders there after we shared a meal with them.
The ups and downs of the day left me a bit hollow and per my usual pattern this week, I fell asleep with all my clothes on - dirt, dust and all.
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