Givat Haviva Voice

Hewn from white Jerusalem stone, an impressive memorial to the children who perished in the Holocaust is situated just a few meters from the home of kibbutz born and raised sculptor and collector of Judaica, Aviram Paz. Having taken a particularly heart-wrenching feature from the late 1940’s created Shoah memorial - a desperate mother trying to protect her terrified child – Paz has sculpted from a large chunk of olive wood a very special, poignant Hanukiah for the approaching Festival of Lights celebrations. The eight hand forged chunky iron candle holders placed at the mother and child’s feet are representative of the fire and smoke emanating from the crematorium chimney stacks, emphasizing the connection between the celebration of the miracle of Hanukah and the devastation but also survival of European Jewry from Hitler, the Nazis and their henchmen. Completed in 1946, the memorial to the children who died in the Holocaust was created by Polish born Zeev Ben-Zvi who emigrat

In cooperation with the JCRC of Greater Boston. The representatives met with Mohammad Darawshe, Director of the Center for Equality and Shared Society at Givat Haviva, from whom they heard about our vision and our day-to-day activity here at Givat Haviva, and discussed the opportunity to build a shared society in Israel.

A state visit marking 25 years of partnership between the state of Rhineland-Pfalz and Givat Haviva Photos:  https://goo.gl/qSUQGY  https://goo.gl/eGHdcN  

Givat Haviva, the Center for Shared Society in Israel, sharply condemns the attack in Jerusalem last Friday, in which Israeli policemen were killed by Israeli civilians. This is not our way! This is an act that has no place and justification in any context. It strikes a mortal blow to the holiness of the place and It undermines the Israeli democracy and undermines the efforts to build a shared and egalitarian society in the State of Israel. We welcome the condemnations of this act by the leadership of Arab society and call upon the government and the citizens of Israel not to be dragged after extremists on both sides who seek to harm the delicate fabric of society and to sow separation and fear among its members. Our condolences to the families of those killed. Yaniv Sagee Mohammad Darawshe Riad Kabha Samer Atamni Dudu Amitai

Photos & text: Lydia Aisenberg   Yuval Danieli is an Israeli artist with a particular penchant for researching the history of art in the kibbutz movement, not surprising when one learns that the kibbutz born Danieli is the Director of Images at the Yad Yaari Research and Documentation Center at Givat Haviva. “Yad Yaari was established to preserve and promote the intellectual assets of two key movements in Israel’s history, Hashomer Hatzair, the first Zionist youth movement founded in Eastern Europe in 1911, and Kibbutz Artzi, a federation of 85 kibbutzim that was founded in 1927,” explains Danieli, a member of the Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz of Hamapil, founded in 1945. Nowadays those kibbutzim, although still Hashomer Hatzair affiliated, are incorporated into the United Kibbutz Movement representing a total of some 270 communities throughout Israel. Danieli’s rather large office at the Givat Haviva campus is crammed with books, files and artifacts of over 100 year

Photos & text: Lydia Aisenberg Childhood friends from Newcastle, England, Judith Sischy and Lynn Leon Ross were among the many visitors to the recently opened HAMSIN-50 exhibition at the Givat Haviva Collaborative Art Center & Peace Gallery. The friends had visited the Givat Haviva campus in the past, but never together.  Lynn, who emigrated to Israel in 2010 and lives in Hofit, a rural community in central Israel, actually had an exhibtion of her very powerful art work - entitled Identities - shown at the Givat Haviva gallery in 1995 after which the exhibition moved to Haifa for another successful showing.  Lynn’s 1995 solo exhibition of drawings and photographs was officially opened at Givat Haviva by the then British Ambassador Andrew Burns who was not only very impressed with the British born artists creations but also at the time made very positive comments about Givat Haviva’s achievements and aspirations for the future.  He also presented a number of boo

 Text and photos: Lydia Aisenberg “I have been to Israel at least 20 times in the past but for some reason I never visited the Givat Haviva Center for Shared Society, and have to admit to this being a real mistake,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told hundreds of Israeli Jewish and Arab educators, Israeli teens, overseas students and local Jewish and Arab dignitaries during a visit to the doyen peace education campus in Wadi Ara. “My wife and I have been really touched meeting old friends again here in Israel but also in the making of new ones as we are experiencing such a warm and friendly an atmosphere such as here today in Givat Haviva, and for that we thank you,” said President Steinmeier toward the end of a 2 hour visit to the 1949 founded organization which he described as being “an isle of hope.” “Where politicians failed you are succeeding in showing that Jews and Arabs can live together in Israel and as you say, the goal must be to show youngsters co-exi

"Refugee" by Ahmad Canaan from the exhibit "Hamsin – 50" opening Saturday, May 20 in the Givat Haviva  Collaborative Art Center The day of the “Nakba” – the “catastrophe” – is the day the Palestinian people commemorates the tragedy that befell them in 1948, when between 700,000 and 1,000,000 Palestinians became refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Arab states, and other places around the world, and many others became “internal refugees,” uprooted from their homes, who came to live elsewhere in Israel. The Nakba is an open wound that burns and throbs in Palestinian collective memory. For twenty percent of the citizens of our country, Israel, Nakba Day symbolizes their national trauma of expulsion and destruction, and the personal and family trauma of losing relatives, homes, land, trees and flowers – a loss that has accompanied their families and people since 1948. In order for us to be able to have a shared life here, we must heal the rifts and accept o

 Text and photos: Lydia Aisenberg “I have been to Israel at least 20 times in the past but for some reason I never visited the Givat Haviva Center for Shared Society, and have to admit to this being a real mistake,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told hundreds of Israeli Jewish and Arab educators, Israeli teens, overseas students and local Jewish and Arab dignitaries during a visit to the doyen peace education campus in Wadi Ara. “My wife and I have been really touched meeting old friends again here in Israel but also in the making of new ones as we are experiencing such a warm and friendly an atmosphere such as here today in Givat Haviva, and for that we thank you,” said President Steinmeier toward the end of a 2 hour visit to the 1949 founded organization which he described as being “an isle of hope.” “Where politicians failed you are succeeding in showing that Jews and Arabs can live together in Israel and as you say, the goal must be to show youngsters co-exi