Shye Klein captured two festivalgoers’ last moments of joy before they were killed in the wee hours of Oct. 7, 2023. The photographer had brought his camera to the Nova Music Festival in hopes of learning people’s stories and making new friends.
Klein, 27, shared his experience and the unpublished photos and video he and his friends took at the festival to an audience at the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia on Oct. 27, just over one year after the attack on Israel. Canadian-born, he made aliyah to Israel in June 2023 after a month-long vacation.
Attendees of the Pozez JCC event, “Resilience and Hope: An Evening of Art and Storytelling,” chose two of four different sessions featuring conversations about Oct. 7 through an artistic lens.
“This was an annual commemoration for Oct. 7; Oct. 27 is the Hebrew day,” Dean Bagdadi, the senior shliach at the Pozez JCC and event organizer, said. “We wanted this event to be something that sparks a conversation, an event that will allow folks to absorb, to be part of one of four very meaningful sessions, then be able to talk to other people who share that sense of community.”
The other sessions included the “Wrapping Memory” gallery, a Jerusalem-based art project; a conversation about music to explore how Israelis are feeling post-Oct. 7 with former Pozez JCC shliach Shy Ashkenazi and a discussion around how to talk about Israel today with Daniel Flesch, founder of The Israel Educator project.
“[We were] talking about people and stories, and that’s what prompted us to focus on art,” Bagdadi said. “You talk about the individual; you can focus on the personal impact that people are carrying with them, apart from all of the political debate. … Art was the best way to do it.”
Shye Klein
In his session, Klein presented his photos and video to about 25 of the event’s 70 attendees. The Pozez JCC was one stop on his journey across North America to share his Oct. 7 experience. He said he was inspired by the fact that community members showed up to see and hear his story.
“They really demonstrate how much we care for one another,” Klein said. “These strangers come out, sit in front of me for an hour and listen to me talk about something terrible. They wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t care.”
He told the crowd about how he took portraits of people at the Nova Festival, taking the time to get to know them. Klein said all of the more than 25 portrait subjects survived Oct. 7, except for 26-year-old Dor Avitan and 48-year-old Ran Sheffer, whose portraits he delivered to the grieving families.
At the JCC event, Klein shared about the subjects of his portraits: where each was from, what brought them to Israel or the festival and who they came with, so that others “can connect and relate to what’s happened.”
“I think it’s important that people in North America learn about the individuals who were there, because it’s sort of dehumanizing how it’s spoken about in the media, like there’s nothing to who we are as people except for being victim[s],” Klein said.
The Pozez JCC’s website refers to KIein as an “active speaker advocating against antisemitism and anti-Zionism,” but he sees his role as more than that.
“I don’t know if I see [my work] as ‘fighting antisemitism.’ I see it as supporting my community,” Klein said.
‘Wrapping Memory’
The “Wrapping Memory” gallery, an initiative of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, was brought from Israel in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. The paintings and digital paintings depict the beauty of the Gaza envelope prior to Oct. 7.
Tali, the Federation’s senior shlicha, presented the artwork at the event, marking her first time speaking to the Greater Washington Jewish community. She shared her story as an Israeli living in a kibbutz and running to a bomb shelter with her kids on Oct. 7.
An avid hiker, Tali said she is very familiar with the Gaza region. She pointed out symbolism in the artwork that non-Israeli viewers could easily miss.
“If you look very closely … in these very perfect, pastoral, colorful paintings, you will find those small hints that show that they were made post-Oct. 7,” Tali said.
She added that one of the paintings is of a yellow gate, a symbol of the kibbutzim across Israel and in the Gaza envelope.
“During Oct. 7, when the terrorists came to the kibbutz, this yellow gate was the barrier to make people gain more time to enter the shelters and to protect themselves,” Tali said. “It was a truly meaningful thing during Oct. 7 to help people protect themselves. So it’s not only a yellow gate; it also holds all the meaning that it had during Oct. 7.”
Another painting shows houses and trees in the kibbutzim, which were reduced to skeletons after Oct. 7.
“[The paintings] show what can be there if we work hard to rehabilitate those towns and … if we create a sense of security that they need in order to come back to their homes and to create those places that were once heaven for them,” Tali said.
The illustrations are available for purchase, and proceeds help provide assistance to residents of the Gaza envelope. The initiative is just over a year old, having launched after Oct. 7, 2023.
Tali asked audience members to search for the symbolism in the artwork and share their personal connections to Israel.
“It was a really meaningful talk,” Tali said. “Art can connect a lot of people.”
