Kibbutz Be’eri Still Recovering After Attack
Visit to site of death and destruction on Oct. 7 has become, for some, a journey of tragic discovery.
There is a strange silence in Kibbutz Be’eri these days. As this writer walked down the silent streets of the settlement that was ravaged by some 300 Hamas terrorists last October, a young skinny, stray cat approaches, maybe looking for a hand-out. But nothing else stirs among the burned-out homes here.
The kibbutz, which is just a few miles from the Gaza border, was hit hard. The debris from inside the homes, along with broken furniture and twisted carpets litter what was once a green space, a front yard. Before the Israeli army regained control of the community late in the afternoon, 125 homes were either damaged or destroyed.
Strands of yellow security tape encircle a number of the homes. Here and there a banner identifies the residents who were shot that day or were incinerated by high temperature grenades. Some bodies were so badly disfigured that it took over a month of forensic analysis to identify them.
Steve Oppenheimer, who has long been active in high profile community fundraising efforts in Atlanta, was also on the visit here. He’s made dozens of trips to Israel, but his visit to this community recalled for him the helplessness Jews felt as they faced the Holocaust. His visit to Be’eri has been what he describes as the “most profound experience” he’s ever had.
“As I looked at the banners on these homes, of the pictures of those who had died, I was able to connect with them, in my own way, as people. And I felt so much sorrow in thinking about these people. It’s worse than what the media could convey. And I began to understand a little better of what they had gone through.”
Oppenheimer was part of a mission to Israel organized late in June by The Birthright Foundation for some of their most important financial supporters. There have been about a half dozen of these Birthright Foundation trips here for contributors in the last 10 months. A visit to Kibbutz Be’eri and the neighboring site of the Nova Music Festival, a couple of miles away has become for many a kind of pilgrimage of discovery.
With us, as we walked down these deserted streets together, was Rami Gold, a survivor of the Oct. 7 attack. A Tavor Israeli assault rifle was strapped across his chest.
Gold received a shrapnel wound to his leg, but he survived the attack by barricading himself in a concrete bomb shelter. His wife and other family members were also spared. More than a hundred residents were killed here, another 30 were kidnapped and taken back to the Gaza Strip as hostages. Some of those who lost their lives were, ironically, peace activists who employed some of the 18,000 residents of Gaza who worked as day laborers in Israel.
As I looked at the banners on these homes, of the pictures of those who had died, I was able to connect with them, in my own way, as people. And I felt so much sorrow in thinking about these people. It’s worse than what the media could convey. And I began to understand a little better of what they had gone through.
Gold and his wife are part of roughly 50 residents who have returned to begin to put their lives back together. But for many others who have left the kibbutz, even a visit to what is left of there is still too painful to contemplate. For those like Gold who are back, support has poured in from across the Jewish world.
He and several other residents were invited to lead the Israel Independence Day Parade in New York City in May. For 10 days afterwards, he was a featured speaker at programs around the city. Getting away from this place and experiencing what he describes as the “the hugs and the warmth” of other Jews has helped him to recover. The contacts that Gold has made over that time have helped him soothe some of the psychological pain that he carries with him to this day.
“I understood we’re not alone anymore,” Gold says. “We have all of these Jews around the world with us. And it has been a great experience. We’ve established relationships. Beautiful Jews have come from all over Europe, North America, and I’m proud of it. A team of volunteers is coming next week to bring us new mezuzahs for our homes.”
For Oppenheimer, too, the experience of being in this place where so much has been lost, the Birthright Foundation trip has been life affirming. Last year, the organization raised $85 million, a record, to finance trips to Israel for young Jews to experience Israel at this crucial moment in history. After this trip, Oppenheimer is determined to do more.
“I’m doubling down,” Oppenheimer said. “We have so much work to do and I’m absolutely up for it. We need to get as many young adults as we can to Israel. I want to make sure this great American diaspora strengthens itself and becomes stronger. People in the community need to come together and realize the commonalities that we have. Our common history is our great strength.”
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