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TEL AVIV (JTA) — Daniel Ozeri found himself remembering the worst moments of his life last Sunday, in his mind, but in a conference center in Tel Aviv.
Ozeri at Expo Tel Aviv, a sprawling complex in the north of the city where the Nova music festival, which ended with the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, was recreated in wonderful detail.
At least 364 revelers were killed and 40 were taken hostage at the Kibbutz Reim festival, which has temporarily become a stark symbol of Israel’s demise. Ozeri, like so many others, spent hours on the run with “bullets flying overhead,” wasting his jewelry. as he ran into a wooded domain near the festival site.
He said visiting the exhibition, with its incinerated cars, bullet-riddled portable toilets and piles of non-public belongings, is not simple but essential for him.
“It takes me back there and to the terrible pain of that moment, but we have to go back there to commemorate what happened and not forget our friends who were killed there,” Ozeri said. While he leaves the exhibition to get some branding. With a fresh air, Ozeri does not forget in detail how he and his most productive friend escaped from the festival grounds and survived, while some of his close friends and countless faces familiar to him after years of trance parties do not they did it.
It’s a somber experience that the organizers of the “6:29” exhibition — named for the moment the trance music stopped that morning as the sirens of incoming rockets blared — hope is being repeated often during its limited run.
“The whole concept of the monument here is to update what happened on that occasion and where it ended up,” said Sarel Botavia, 26, one of the makers of the Nova festival who helped design the exhibit. “The exhibition makes explicit the distance between the love that we are explicit and the hatred and killing that took place there. “
The exhibition, which requires a minimum donation of NIS 50, or about $13. 75, is a fundraiser for the ongoing healing expenses and long-term vision of the Nova community. His goal is for his legacy not to be just a legacy of tragedy. , but also of rebirth and survival.
This comes amid a wave of projects for Nova survivors, including a healing retreat in central Israel and the development of considerations about whether they will get all the assistance they desperately need.
The families of the festival network, who do not have the geographical links of the kibyetzim attacked on October 7, recently reached an agreement to claim that their wishes were being neglected. Initially, the government provided monetary and mental assistance to the survivors and victims of the Nova. and Psyduck, however, since then, much of the healing expenses have depended on civilian support. Anger also spread within the Nova network over reports that army intelligence in the early hours of October 7 related to an approaching invasion may have been used. evacuate the festival hours before the attack began.
In this context, the exhibition and other efforts focused on the Nova bloodbath point to a slogan followed by what is now known as the “Nova Tribe”: “We will dance again. “
The message resonated in the first days after October 7, when members of the trance music network vowed not to let the Hamas attack ruin their spirits forever. She recently won strong support from survivors, adding that one of them made a video of dancing from his wheelchair with social media influencer Montana Tucker. Mia Shem, a 26-year-old woman who kidnapped and wounded her, revealed a tattoo with the slogan after she was released.
Whether going through a detailed reconstruction is useful for survivors and others remains a matter of debate. For some, being immersed in the attractions and sounds of that day may simply cause post-traumatic anxiety. But studies have also shown that exposure to the scene of trauma can be helpful for counseling and trauma recovery.
A psychiatrist who treated Nova survivors in the first few weeks after the tragedy told JTA that each individual reaction to trauma is different and that for some, this exposure can be a cure. Nationally, the psychiatrist, who asked not to be named, believes there is immense strength in the Nova community, compelled to take on his narrative in such a public forum.
Nova festival producer Nimrod Arnin, who lost his sister in the July 10 attack, said they “strive to convey to survivors the intensity of the party and that some decide not to attend the exhibition. “
And while he explains that the occasion aims to “raise awareness among the Israeli public and raise funds. . . Except for the precise reconstruction of the site, there are no competing noises of explosions, gunfire or bloodshed. “young people to attend.
Visitors enter the darkly lit indoor hall and proceed into the “camping area,” with tents and other gear strewn across the floor and a game of backgammon in progress, as many fled the scene without time to assemble their belongings. Past the rows of tents lies the bathroom and parking area where the most gruesome evidence of the Hamas slaughter on site is found: a yellow portable toilet with 11 bullet holes and destroyed cars that were towed from the festival site are stacked on top of each other, burnt beyond recognition.
In the middle of the reconstructed dance floor, shrouded in the colorful shadow of the festival, a somber visual projection shows angels emerging in a loop, representing the lives of young people tragically taken. On the outer edge there are sections dedicated to artistic tributes where many things have been written. of handwritten notes such as “Liron: You are in our hearts forever. “
A container of personal belongings is both an exhibition and an actual discovered object.
“We brought the curtains here so other people can just look at them and look for them,” said volunteer Yael Finkelstein, who said there are two types of people who collect. “There are those who were invited to the party and survived, but also the families whose children were killed. There are other people who need to pull back the curtains and others who cling to all the objects. “
Ozeri combed through the pieces but said he had little hope of locating his own lost pieces. Still, he said, he took away from the exhibit a small reminder of the “true freedom and true happiness” that trance nights bring, a reminiscence he swore will be precious someday in the future.
“We’re not in a position to dance again. This is not the time because we are still mourning for all our friends and for those whose whereabouts we don’t know,” he said. “Now there are much more important things than dancing, however, the time will come when all the captives will surrender and we will win by dancing. And many other people who have no connection to trance festivals will join us in commemorating our friends. If we don’t dance, it will be as if we allow them to defeat us.
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