A few days ago I titled my post “Darom Adom” (“Red South”), the name given to the south of Israel during the season that the kalaniot/anemones bloom –which is now. After October 7, the “red” took on a new meaning. The area of Israel where these flowers bloom is the area where the massacres took place.
Bili and Mats generally go out every Friday and/or Saturday to see and photograph wildflowers. It’s Bili’s greatest joy–her Facebook page is filled with beautiful nature photographs from these tiyulim/trips. Because it was raining the first weekend I was with them, we weren’t able to explore. So she took today off from work so we could go see the fields of red in Darom Adom–and the memorial fields near Re’im for those murdered at the Nova Festival on October 7. On the way we passed the kibbutzim which the Hamas terrorists had infiltrated, and where they killed, kidnapped, destroyed: Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, Alumim (Alumim was able to fend off the terrorists to a great extent and didn’t suffer the destruction or numbers of dead that the other kibbutzim did–though 8 were kidnapped from there). I didn’t realize we would see those signs pointing out those kibbutzim I’d be reading and hearing about, that I’d be that close. We also passed the city of S’derot, always under attack from missiles, which has been totally evacuated since October 7. (You can read about my visit to S’derot and the situation along the Gaza border in 2018 at https://wordpress.com/post/paminjerusalem.com/2108)
The road we travelled (232) was only re-opened a couple of weeks ago because the cars that were used to escape Hamas (filled with dead bodies, or abandoned when the occupants fled to hide on foot) were only just removed. The road was badly damaged by the Israeli tanks that later came through.
Because of Bili’s work at Israeli t.v. she has a lot of inside information. Her current projects include doing in-depth archival reports on each of these kibbutzim that will eventually be in English and online, a report on the history of women soldiers in Israel, and she’s already planning for the first yahrzeit of October 7, which will include a specially commissioned piece of orchestral music.
This is a shelter (megunia) from missiles on the road outside Be’eri. Everyone hiding inside was killed by Hamas.
It was a bit frightening to head down to the Gaza Envelope. I wasn’t sure I was emotionally or spiritually ready to really face the specter of all of those dead. And there is always the possibility of red alerts, sirens, missiles. I had downloaded two apps on my phone which have pinged rather consistently over the past two weeks–usually with alerts at the north of the country, where things are heating up with Hezbollah at the Lebanese border, and where cities and towns have also been totally evacuated.
But we got to the site of the Nova festival and spent a lot of time enjoying the flowers before we went to the memorial(s). And Bili said to me, “These are flowers for the dead.”
We then walked to the area where the pictures of the dead were hanging, most with messages of love and grief and inspiration from their relatives and friends. There were yahrzeit candles burning, as well, and signs calling for the release of the hostages. At one sign, a crowd was crying and reciting kaddish for someone they clearly knew.
Many of the signs had the acronym in Hebrew for “May their blood be avenged,” which was viscerally jarring for me theologically and emotionally. These were peace-seeking, peace-loving people, and would they themselves have wanted their memorials to assert that vengeful response? I wonder.
After we passed this area, there was another, where saplings had been planted for each of the dead. Again, family members had personalized these memorials with signs and messages.
I was surprised to see Haredim here, a place they might have considered “idolatrous” because the dance party had taken place there and on a holy day (and Shabbat), at that. But, of course, they, too, may have relatives who were OTD (off the derekh/off the path)
These are the shelters that the army had installed before the dance party in case of rockets. All those who hid inside, were killed. Bullet holes riddled the structures, and dirt was on the ground inside to cover the blood
This composite photograph includes pictures of all the dead from the dance festival, a sea of dead.
In yet another part of the memorial, a daffodil flower garden had been planted. The quote from Natan Yonaton says something like, “There are flowers without end that remain as music.”
The flower garden
On our way out and back to the car, we saw the trenches where the festival goers had also hidden.
It was a beautiful and meaningful memorial, filled with so much pain and so much longing, but also so much love. I did not want to see the destruction at the kibbutzim–nor did I feel it would appropriate to do so, but this place was a memorial site and by going there, I feel I honored the loss of life on October 7. It was deep and profound, and I’m so glad I was able to do it with Bili, my dear friend (and penpal) for over 50 years.
I am about ready now to leave for the airport for my trip back to the U.S. I have much more to process and write about– this will not be the last post.
paminjerusalem 