OUR COMMUNITY

TOP: A presentation from a group
of b’nai mitzvah kids from Kibbutz
Gavim.

ON THE COVER

14 | JANUARY 25 • 2024 J
N

At the Sheba Medical Center, we
met Avishai Shoshani, a 50-year-
old wounded IDF reservist and a
father of four from our Partnership
Region who had been shot in both
legs while trying to save a fellow
soldier. He has served in six differ-
ent conflicts to defend and protect
Israel over the past 30 years. Avishai
had been in rehab for five weeks,
learning to walk again with remark-
able fortitude. His goal is to run in
the Mountain to Valley 24-hour run
in our Partnership Region in May,
and we hope our community can
be there to cheer him on!
We visited the graveyard of hun-
dreds of burnt-out vehicles from
the Nova festival, a testament to
the sheer brutality of the massacre.
Technicians there were still comb-
ing through the ashes to identify
victims, so that all would have a
proper burial.
We spent time with our friends
and family in our Partnership
Region of the Central Galilee,
listening to their experiences and
hopes for the future. Above all, we
were there to affirm our unbreak-
able bond, now more important
than ever.
Perhaps the most difficult visit
of all was to Kibbutz Be’
eri, one of
the most successful and beautiful
kibbutzim in Israel. The kibbutz
operates a successful state-of-the-
art printing business that remains
in operation. On Oct. 7, more than

“WALKING THROUGH KIBBUTZ BE’ERI, ONE OF THE

MASSACRE SITES WHERE OVER 100 PEOPLE WERE

MURDERED AND HELD HOSTAGE, WITH LOTAN

PINYAN, A MEMBER WHO LOST HIS IN-LAWS IN THE

ATTACK, WAS A HEARTBREAKING EXPERIENCE. HIS

STORIES ABOUT THE EVENTS AT EACH BUILDING

PAINTED A VIVID PICTURE OF THE HORROR AND

LOSS. HIS UNWAVERING SPIRIT OF RESILIENCE IS

WHAT TRULY DEFINES THE PEOPLE I MET ON THIS

JOURNEY, AND IT IS A MESSAGE THAT RESONATES

DEEPLY WITHIN ME.”

— MATT RAN, SOLIDARITY MISSION PARTICIPANT

The Nova Festival
“Car Graveyard”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MISSION PARTICIPANTS

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