Exhibit of October 7 victims’ belongings touches the soul
‘The Space That Remains,’ at the Peres Center, includes Ariel Bibas’s balance bike, and his baby brother Kfir’s bouncy seat
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
A riveting array of personal objects that belonged to those killed as a result of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught make up “The Space That Remains,” a new exhibit that opened on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.
The collection includes the balance bike that belonged to Ariel Bibas, the 4-year-old redhead taken captive by Hamas and killed, and the bouncy seat used by his baby brother, Kfir, also killed in captivity.
Other items include the comfortably worn recliner used daily by Itzik Elgarat, who was the Bibas’s next-door neighbor in Kibbutz Nir Oz, and the barbell that belonged to Ohad Yahalomi, ripped in half by a grenade thrown into his Nir Oz home on that day.
The exhibit was initiated by Ofri Bibas, sister of former hostage Yarden Bibas, as they continue to mourn the terrible loss of her brother’s wife and children.
“It’s a very personal exhibit that enters your soul,” said Efrat Duvdevani, CEO of the Peres Center.
The exhibit, which opened on October 3 and will remain open through October 15, is the work of the Peres Center and the October Council, a group of survivors of the onslaught and bereaved families.
On opening night, several members of the political opposition, including former prime minister Yair Lapid, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot and former prime minister Naftali Bennett, attended the opening event.
Two days later, Democrats party chair Yair Golan and Chili Tropper, part of Eisenkot’s Yashar Party, toured the exhibit.
The exhibit, housed in the center’s main galleries, immerses visitors in the lives of those who were killed.
It opens with a screen in the front lobby that shows a loop of home movies, recordings and videos of the victims in the days, weeks and months before October 7, 2023.
There are Shlomi and Deborah (Shachar) Matias playing guitar, and singing in a sukkah, before they were killed protecting their 16-year-old son in their Holit safe room.
In another video, members of the Bira family play with their dog and make TikTok videos; five members of the Bira family were killed the following day.
The exhibit is divided into different areas, displaying the items of soldiers killed in the line of duty; objects belonging to those from the kibbutzim who were killed, before moving into an area devoted to the massacre at the Nova music festival, followed by a final section about the children and youth whose lives were lost.
The beret of surveillance soldier Roni Eshel, killed at the Nahal Oz army base, is on display near the stethoscope and uniform of paramedic Amit Mann, murdered in the clinic at Kibbutz Be’eri.
The Nova section brings visitors into the hours before the attack with videos of the music and dance floor, while shelves display people’s belongings, one partier’s skateboard and Hersh Goldberg-Polin‘s copy of Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning,” a book he referenced before being killed in captivity.
Another corner recreates Gan Tut, the kindergarten of Kibbutz Nir Oz, memorializing the 44 children and youth killed on October 7.
Upstairs, the Peres Center auditorium plays “Edut 7.10” (Testimony), a series of videos portraying survivors of the Hamas massacre, describing what happened to them, and what their existence looks like now.
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