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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