Two Tel Aviv museums mark Oct. 7 with exhibits, films, and ex-hostage’s photos of home

Muza — Eretz Israel Museum shows surviving photographs from mostly destroyed collection of released captive Yocheved Lifshitz, while Anu focuses on international Jewish dialogue

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

  • A photograph by Kibbutz Nir Oz resident photographer Yocheved Lifshitz of Pesia and Amikam in Nir Oz in the 1970s, from the 'Surviving Moments' exhibit at Musa Eretz Israel Museum, through December 14, 2024 (Courtesy Yocheved Lifshitz)
    A photograph by Kibbutz Nir Oz resident photographer Yocheved Lifshitz of Pesia and Amikam in Nir Oz in the 1970s, from the 'Surviving Moments' exhibit at Musa Eretz Israel Museum, through December 14, 2024 (Courtesy Yocheved Lifshitz)
  • Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz, before October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
    Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz, before October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
  • Kibbutz Nir Oz resident photographer Yocheved Lifshitz and her daughter, Sharone Lifshitz, from the 'Surviving Moments' exhibit at Muza -- Eretz Israel Museum. (Courtesy Yocheved Lifshitz)
    Kibbutz Nir Oz resident photographer Yocheved Lifshitz and her daughter, Sharone Lifshitz, from the 'Surviving Moments' exhibit at Muza -- Eretz Israel Museum. (Courtesy Yocheved Lifshitz)

Like many local museums this year, two Tel Aviv institutions located a short drive from one another have opened new exhibits to mark one year since the Hamas terror onslaught of October 7.

Anu Museum of the Jewish People, on the Tel Aviv University campus, is open to visitors free of charge on Monday with tours throughout the day of its permanent exhibits along with its “October 7” exhibit, in place since February.

The museum will also present “Two-Minute Pulse Check,” a collection of short films created in the weeks after the war broke out, expressing the filmmakers’ thoughts and experiences.

On October 14, the museum will host an online discussion, “Between October Seventh and Simchat Torah,” in collaboration with the Weizmann National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia and the Zikaron BaSalon organization, offering an opportunity for dialogue between the Jewish communities of the world.

Author Dara Horn and Tel Aviv University faculty member and philosophy lecturer Jeremy Vogel will take part in the online panel, along with Zikaron BaSalon co-founder Dana Sender-Mulla and Yeshiva University Jewish history professor Jacob Schacter.

Muza — Eretz Israel Museum is exhibiting “Surviving Moments” through December 14, showing the photographs that are left from the work of released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, a Kibbutz Nir Oz octogenarian whose husband, Oded Lifshitz, is still held captive in Gaza.

Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz, before October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released from Hamas captivity on October 28, 2023, was born in Tel Aviv and was a founder of Nir Oz in 1956, along with her husband.

She documented kibbutz life, its members, and the daily routine of the community. Her work was published in the Al Hamishmar newspaper in the 1980s and she set up the photography program in the local Ma’ale Habesor regional high school and taught there until some 15 years ago.

When Kibbutz Nir Oz was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, one in four kibbutz members was killed or taken hostage. The Lifshitz family home was destroyed by fire, including Yocheved’s camera and photo archive.

Appearing in the exhibition are a few surviving examples of Lifshitz’s work, which were preserved because her daughter, Sharone Lifshitz, had taken them to London as part of her work.

Yocheved Lifshitz (center), who was freed in October from Hamas captivity, protests in Tel Aviv on November 28, 2023, alongside family members, for the release of the remaining hostages, including her husband, Oded. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

A video by Sharone Lifshitz that appears in the exhibit “The Line and the Circle” (2009), was filmed in the darkroom of her parents’ home, and includes a conversation between mother and daughter about life, photography and the kibbutz.

The Muza exhibition is a joint project with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

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