Bring back the Light

Support the Be’eri Women’s Exhibition in NYC 🌟

Help us bring their stories—and their light—to the heart of Manhattan.

These women endured unimaginable trauma on October 7th and have since been living through ongoing war and displacement. Through the powerful SoulPages® method of visual journaling, they found a way to reclaim their voices, express grief, and rebuild their inner world—one page at a time.

Their works have already touched hearts across Israel: from the Dead Sea, to Ramat Gan, to the Jerusalem Theater. Now, we want to bring their message of hope, resilience, and healing to the world stage.

We are honored and thrilled to share that the David BenRimon Gallery in New York City has generously donated their prestigious space for our exhibition of the visual journals , but we still need to raise

$25,000 to make this powerful vision a reality and show their stories to the world!

Your support will help us professionally print and display the artwork, fly several Be’eri women to New York so they can attend the opening and share their stories firsthand, and cover essential costs like transportation, production, and installation.

 

Every donation, no matter the size, brings us closer to the light.

For all payment forms, please indicate that Kibbutz Be’eri, Bring back the light exhibition, is the intended recipient and forward a copy of your receipt to Ido Shwartz, Kibbutz Be’eri head of philanthropy @ Ido@beeri.co.il ( or rakefetlink@gmail.com) If paying by check, please email a photocopy to Ido/Rakefet

  • Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) will match 25% of all donations collected through JNF. Donations via credit card, wire transfer and check are eligible.
  • All donations made through JNF are sent directly to Be’eri. No fee is chargedץ

    Online Donations: https://my.jnf.org/israel-resilience-campaign/KibbutzBeeri.
    Federal Tax ID: # 13-1659627
    Address: 78 Randall Ave. Rockville Center, NY 11570

     

Who are these women

 

This extraordinary group of women began creating together in an improvised studio at a hotel near the Dead Sea, where they were taken after the massacre. Amid the shock and chaos, they began expressing what words could not.

In December, when I (Rakefet) joined them as a guide, a true creative collective began to take shape — bound by shared grief, profound courage, and the healing power of art.

Some of the women had already been introduced to the SoulPages® method of visual journaling years earlier, thanks to their dear friends Orit Svirsky and Anat Tavori, who had led a group in Be’eri since 2018.

That original group consisted of seven women. Orit Svirsky, Maayana Hershkovitz, and Mazi Bachar, three beloved souls, were murdered on October 7.

Their surviving friends, devastated yet determined, carried their legacy forward — creating journals, images, and words that now form the very heart of this exhibition.

This is not just art.

It is testimony.

It is a reclamation of life.

And it is a radiant tribute to the unbreakable bond between women who refused to stop creating, even in the darkest hours.

Curator:  Rakefet Hadar

Photographer:Venezian- Heftig Studio

Why we need your help

 

While the gallery space in Manhattan has been generously donated, we still need to raise $25,000 to make this powerful vision a reality.
Your support will help us professionally print and display the artwork, fly several Be’eri women to New York so they can attend the opening and share their stories firsthand, and cover essential costs like transportation, production, and installation.

And if we are fortunate enough to surpass our goal, every additional dollar will go toward building a permanent art studio in Be’eri—a sanctuary where the Be’eri women can continue their healing journey through creativity, community, and ritual.

💬 At the exhibition opening, visitors will even be able to gently browse through some of the original visual journals—real pages that hold pain, longing, and sparks of light.

💛 Every donation, no matter the size, brings us closer to the light.

 

Samples of the art and textare  attached

 

For all payment forms, please indicate that Kibbutz Be’eri, Bring back the light exhibition, is the intended recipient and forward a copy of your receipt to Ido Shwartz, Kibbutz Be’eri head of philanthropy @ Ido@beeri.co.il ( or rakefetlink@gmail.com) If paying by check, please email a photocopy to Ido/Rakefet

  • Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) will match 25% of all donations collected through JNF. Donations via credit card, wire transfer and check are eligible.
  • All donations made through JNF are sent directly to Be’eri. No fee is chargedץ

    Online Donations: https://my.jnf.org/israel-resilience-campaign/KibbutzBeeri.
    Federal Tax ID: # 13-1659627
    Address: 78 Randall Ave. Rockville Center, NY 11570

     

From the Valley of Death to Life / Perach Pilo
Mixed media techniques within a visual journal

October 7, 2023, upended everything.
Everything I had built,
Woven with golden threads into the fabric of my life—
Love and joy, sorrow and humility,
Sunrises and sunsets,
The laughter of babies—
All of it to carry me into my old age.

The necklace of my life—my days and nights…

I wanted to sit quietly in my home,
To smell the growing grass,
To taste the ripened fruits of my garden,
Between sunset and sunrise,
In hope and peace.

But no.

Now, I am walking.
I do not know where,
When,
Why,
Or how.

They rose against us to destroy us.
I have lost everything.
And now, I am here,
Not knowing where I am headed.

Longing for the Four / Batya Shegev
Mixed media techniques within a visual journal

On October 7, my world went dark.

I lost my daughter, her husband, and their two children.

This piece tells the story of the remarkable woman my daughter was.
Her life was like a collage of giving and care for others—
For her children, her husband, and her patients.

The word “breathe” was tattooed on her hand,
The hand that shielded her young children to save them.

I miss all four of them—
Four beloved souls whose absence fills my heart.

I imagine my daughter Rinat in heaven, saying to me, “Breathe.”

For all payment forms, please indicate that Kibbutz Be’eri, Bring back the light exhibition, is the intended recipient and forward a copy of your receipt to Ido Shwartz, Kibbutz Be’eri head of philanthropy @ Ido@beeri.co.il ( or rakefetlink@gmail.com) If paying by check, please email a photocopy to Ido/Rakefet

  • Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) will match 25% of all donations collected through JNF. Donations via credit card, wire transfer and check are eligible.
  • All donations made through JNF are sent directly to Be’eri. No fee is chargedץ

    Online Donations: https://my.jnf.org/israel-resilience-campaign/KibbutzBeeri.
    Federal Tax ID: # 13-1659627
    Address: 78 Randall Ave. Rockville Center, NY 11570

     

Short Movies about the process

                                                         

 Pls Help us bring this important exhibition to NY

                                                         

For all payment forms, please indicate that Kibbutz Be’eri, Bring back the light exhibition, is the intended recipient and forward a copy of your receipt to Ido Shwartz, Kibbutz Be’eri head of philanthropy @ Ido@beeri.co.il ( or rakefetlink@gmail.com) If paying by check, please email a photocopy to Ido/Rakefet

  • Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) will match 25% of all donations collected through JNF. Donations via credit card, wire transfer and check are eligible.
  • All donations made through JNF are sent directly to Be’eri. No fee is chargedץ

    Online Donations: https://my.jnf.org/israel-resilience-campaign/KibbutzBeeri.
    Federal Tax ID: # 13-1659627
    Address: 78 Randall Ave. Rockville Center, NY 11570