32 | MARCH 14 • 2024 
J
N

O

n Oct.10, three days 
after the Oct. 7 
attack that shocked 
Israel and Jews worldwide, 
Dana Dvorin decided to take 
action. An artist and women’s 
rights activist, Dvorin, art 
director and CEO of Platforma 
Theater in Tel Aviv, called eight 

colleagues and got started on a 
volunteer podcast project called 
Rays of Light to bring women’s 
stories, which were often too 
graphic for a general audience, 
to the forefront in a way that 
would be more accessible, she 
says. 
“What I can do is bring these 

testimonials to the people that 
cannot listen and see these 
horrible things on television,
” 
she explains. “Because the 
most important thing is that 
this story will pass around 
and people will know what 
happened, and those women 
will get the support from 
society, that they believe them.
”
She gathered a producer who 
called the women, and an artist, 
who uses sand art to create 
visuals. Rays of Light started 
taking women’s testimonies 
and fitting them to a shorter 
format, then recording them 
with the help of actresses, she 
says, adding that the aim is to 
make it possible for the next 
generation to engage with the 
material as well.
“We never thought 
something like this would 
happen — they took women 
from their houses, girls from 
their beds, and babies. I said 
to myself ‘I have to tell these 
women’s stories,
’” she explains. 
“This is my mission, to tell 
the women’s stories, those 
testimonies of the women in 
the war, but I have to do it 
differently. I have to tell the 
story in a way that people can 

Actresses 
and artists 
give voice to 
women’s Oct. 7 
stories.

KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
ON THE COVER

 Rays of 
 L ight

