Be’eri

Be’eri

Micha Brikman

At dawn on Shabbat, 7th October 2023 – the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah – reality outside the Gaza Strip and in all Israel changed dramatically. Terrorists of the murderous Hamas organization breached the border fence and began a conquest of the Israeli kibbutzim, villages and towns of the region. Over one hundred armed terrorists invaded Kibbutz Be’eri, four kilometers from the border. Despite the heroic attempt of its emergency response unit to protect the members of the kibbutz, dozens of Israelis were murdered, and a large number abducted to the Gaza Strip, or are considered missing to this day.

The battle in the kibbutz raged for hours, until IDF forces and security personnel gained control and rescued those still alive. In the hours and days that followed, the magnitude of the catastrophe became clear. 

A week or so later, after Kibbutz Be’eri had been declared a military zone, Haifa-based photographer Micha Brikman was granted permission to enter. With his most ‘instinctive’ tool, his camera, he began to process what had taken place on the grounds of the kibbutz. A different experience awaited Brikman on every visit. The adrenaline subsided and was replaced by a feeling of great pain – but also a sense of mission. Beyond the documentation of ‘the calm after the storm,’ Brikman’s photographs convey the storm itself, the heartbreak, and the pain and fear in those moments of horror. 

The Haifa City Museum has chosen to tell the story of Kibbutz Be’eri in the middle of a horrendous terror attack through the photography and experience of Micha Brikman in the days that followed. The narrative of Be’eri began long before its destruction and will continue to be related in the future, with great faith and hope for its revival. Anemones will bloom again in the kibbutz.

Yifat Ashkenazi, Curator, Haifa City Museum