Five exhibits capture the mayhem one year on

One year after the atrocities on 7 October, Grade 10 and 11 students at King David Linksfield and Victory Park joined forces to create an exhibition showcasing their thoughts and feelings on the first anniversary of the massacre.

The exhibition, created by more than 100 pupils as part of the DIJE Plus programme with the help of DIJE volunteers, was divided into five rooms, with individual exhibits created by groups of students. It is running from 7 to 10 October at The Base Shul.

As you enter the museum, you are given a set of headphones playing the song Ki Mitzion, traditionally sung to welcome the Torah out of the ark and into the shul. Each group of 15 is put into a small room reminiscent of a bomb shelter that many Israelis fled to that day. As the song plays, one can hear the vibrant sounds one would associate with Simchat Torah – children laughing, a congregation singing, and music playing. Suddenly the sound of joy is broken by a scream and a siren.

As the group moves to the next room, they are plunged into the utter chaos of the media. Multiple projectors display various media clips discussing the events of 7 October and the ongoing war. The clips start playing slowly, but quickly escalate into absolute mayhem, with voices shouting over each other. This room displays the disorientation and turmoil that the Jewish community has felt over the past year. As it becomes time to leave the room, there is the sound of heavy, intense breathing, showing the exhaustion the Jewish community faces after a year of tragedy.

The next room, titled Ki Ish Echad B’Lev Echad (Like one man with one heart), created by Grade 11 pupils at King David Linksfield, showcases two beating hearts at the centre of the dark room. As you enter the room, you’re enveloped in the sound of a heartbeat, with loud, strong, and fast beats capturing the intense emotions felt in the first months of the war. You also hears a pupil’s voice saying, “We are one” on top of the heart beating, demonstrating that the Jewish community has a single beating heart.

The next exhibit, titled, It’s not 256 461 souls. It’s ONE soul 256 461 times, created by Grade 10 pupils from King David Linksfield, seeks to humanise the statistics of the atrocities of 7 October. There are 256 461 brown paper hearts pinned onto boards in a fragmented pattern. Each heart is placed with a different coloured pin, each symbolising a different way that people have been affected by the atrocities of 7 October. There are 218 yellow pins representing the hostages taken into Gaza that day. There are 1 191 red pins symbolising the people murdered that day. There are 4 834 green pins, each denoting an individual that was injured; and finally, there are 250 000 pins representing the people displaced from their homes. Although the hearts may look like they are placed haphazardly, they are intentionally placed in a random pattern to show that lives were broken by the actions of Hamas on 7 October.

The following exhibit, created by Grade 10 pupils at King David Linksfield is titled, I do not know if the trees can speak, I do not know if I have the ears to hear them. But what if they can? What if we could? Five trees are made from wires, each telling a different story of 7 October. The first three tell the story of the Nova festival; the irreversible damage done to kibbutzim in the south of Israel; and the chaos and uncertainty felt throughout Israel that day. One of the trees showcases the weight of the tunnels in Gaza and the brutality of bodies being paraded through the streets of Gaza on 7 October. Finally, the last tree, evocative of a Jacaranda, tells the story of anguish felt by the Jewish community in South Africa on 7 October.

The next exhibit, titled Yom Hadin (Day of Judgement), created by Grade 11 pupils from King David Victory Park, seeks to showcase the betrayal they felt after the South African government accused Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. On the one side, a figure stands at a podium embodying Jewish prayer. It wears a tallis and clutches a machzor. On the other, a figure represents the stance taken by South Africa at The Hague. Adorned with a keffiyeh embellished with a South African flag, the figure stands at a microphone dripping with blood while the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa express solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Next, there is the exhibit Al Kiddush Hashem (Hashem’s will) created by Grade 11 pupils at King David Linksfield. There’s a display of clouds and mirrors with the sounds of a different pupils saying, “I am a Jew.”

Finally, there’s a silver platter on top of a stack of books in an exhibit titled The Silver Tray by Grade 10 pupils from King David Victory Park. This commemorates the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces who sacrificed their lives in service of Israel, each book representing one soldier as each has their own story. This exhibition is dedicated to a South African lone soldier fighting in the war in Gaza.

Visitors then go through a path of artwork made by Israeli artists showcasing the immense loss and devastation of the atrocities of 7 October, and then go into the reflection room to come to terms with what they have experienced.

They are then guided into the action room, where they are urged to take action to contribute by purchasing items for which the proceeds will go to organisations in Israel.