Tuesday, July 16 – Hartman Day 7
Part 1 – In the City of Slaughter
Our visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz which was invaded on October 7 reminded me of Hayim Nahman Bialik’s poem, “The City of Slaughter.” The poem describes the 1903 Kishinev pogrom and includes lines that could be written of Nir Oz.
The perfumes will be wafted from the acacia bud
And half its blossoms will be feathers,
Whose smell is the smell of blood! …
The sevenfold rays of broken glass
Over thy sorrow joyously will pass, …
The slayer slew, the blossom burst, and it was sunny weather!
Then wilt thou flee to a yard, observe its mound.
Upon the mound lie two, and both are headless,
A Jew and his hound.
But in stark contrast to Bialik’s poem the story of Nir Oz also reflects the Zionist transformation of the Jew. In incredibly harsh language, Bialik critiques the Jewish men of Kishnev who cowered in fear and watched the atrocities:
Note also do not fail to note,
In that dark corner, and behind that cask
Crouched husbands, bridegrooms, brothers, peering from the cracks,
Watching the sacred bodies struggling underneath
The bestial breath,
Stifled in filth, and swallowing their blood! …
By contrast, the men of Nir Oz grabbed their guns, rushed into battle, and died trying to protect their families and community. In the end, nearly one quarter of the approximately 400 residents were murdered or kidnapped. 35 remain in captivity.
For a sense of what happened on the morning of October 7, watch Kibbutz Nir Oz, as it happened. Images post-October 7 are narrated by residents’ text messages as the Hamas massacre unfolded.
The tragedy and horror of October 7 are so intense that my reaction was one of disorientation. I can only express it in phrases.
The horror is unimaginable,
Yet nature is indifferent.
Flowers return and bloom, birds chirp,
But people are in the ground.
Houses – burned down,
The cats roam around.
Safe rooms were built to protect from rockets
I am here. I walk,
But they no longer talk.
The Nir Oz post office. Red = murdered, black = hostage, blue = hostage who was freed.
Wild flowers in bloom at Nir Oz
“In memory of Aviv Atzili and Tamir Adar who fell in battle defending Kibbutz Nir Oz on 10/7/2023.”
The cactus garden of Oded Lifshitz who is being held hostage
The site of the Nova music festival where 364 people, including many young women, were slaughtered is devastating. Generally, putting an image on a grave is forbidden, so it’s jarring to see a memorial with pictures. The girls are so young. Some of the men are middle aged. Quotes of the deceased often encourage the pursuit of happiness. My experience is predicated on someone’s profound loss and having the courage to answer the question: what picture of your child will you post?
Noam Shallom. The only image I saw in black and white, not smiling.
Part 2 – Rebuilding
After the horrors and devastation of Nir Oz and the Nova site, we visited a trauma treatment center for women. For almost 30 years Eden Association has employed a unique model to treat girls and women who have experienced trauma, particularly abuse. Since October 7 they have been treating women and girls from the Gaza envelope. They are also documenting the events; see “October 7th Herstory.”
From there we travelled to Kiryat Gat where the residents of Nir Oz are living in temporary housing. Shortly after October 7, our guide, Eran, realized that the people of Nir Oz needed to remain together in extended temporary housing. They were a kibbutz, an incredibly tight and mutually supportive community, so living in the same building with semi-permeance while the kibbutz is rebuilt would be essential to their recovery. Eran began looking for mass housing that was within driving distance to Nir Oz so that residents could continue to work. He found a brand, new, uninhabited apartment building in Kiryat Gat whose developer had only one-week prior received permission to sell and rent apartments. The developer readily agreed to help the families. Knowing the families needed fully-furnished apartments and the abiltity to make choices about colors, styles, etc. Eran also found a mass relocation start up that developed an app for residents to choose fabrics, colors, and styles of the new furniture. The entire kibbutz moved into brand new, fully-furnished apartments. There they re-established committees, such as the cultural committee and the re-building committee, returned to work, and are rebuilding their lives.
In the community room we met Liat Atzili, wife of Aviv Atzili z’’l (see the above memorial to Aviv). On October 7 Liat was taken hostage by Hamas. She was freed on November 29. Liat remains confused by her captors relatively good treatment of her; she smiled throughout her talk. She explained that she doesn’t have the capacity to be both sad (mourning her husband) and angry. While in captivity, Liat, who was trained by Yad Vashem to teach the Holocaust, taught her captors about the Holocaust. One responded, “That’s terrible.” When she met with President Biden, she was very moved that he spoke with her about losing his wife and daughter. Overall, it was extremely intense to be in the presence of a woman who had been in captivity for nearly two months and to know that 116 hostages remain.
Liat Atzili
To close the day I met with a former teacher of mine. I told him about the entire day, our visit to Nir Oz, the Nova site, Eden Association, and the apartment building in Kiryat Gat with Liat Aztili. He said, “My father is the developer” of the building into which Kibbutz Nir Oz moved. Wow! Only in Israel.