It seems so long ago, but it was only on Jan. 27, after 843 days, 12 hours and six minutes, that all our hostages returned home; the living and the dead. Finally, the clock at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv was turned off.
A lot of forces played into this “miracle” of living up to the Israeli ethos of freeing our people, but, in my view, the main force was the power of the people: the hundreds of thousands that flooded the streets, week after week, in Israel and in cities around the world. Here in Vancouver, we echoed the outcry for their return, every Sunday, for almost two-and-a-half years.
As an artist, I thought that I should find a new role for the metal tags we wore during that period, one that would reflect the spirit of our people; a spirit with a force that can move and sway: a wind chime! The word in Hebrew for “wind” is ruach, the same word used for “spirit.”
I turned to my friends in the circle of Israeli folk dance, who had been dancing with the tags on their chests for those almost two-and-a-half years. I asked them to donate their tags to the project.
Glenda Leznoff, who was part of the creative design, and I collected the tags, and Glenda’s son-in-law, Dave Smith, built the chime. The result: a beautiful wind chime with metal tags that holds the energy of the people who wore them, and the hostages who we still remember in our hearts.
The chime will be offered to the highest bidder in a silent auction this weekend, during the annual BeLev Echad Israeli Dance workshop at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. (“BeLev echad” means “With one heart,” in Hebrew.) The proceeds will go to the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society, a charitable organization that promotes Israeli dance here.
Rina (Lederer) Vizer is a Vancouver artist who has exhibited her work many times over the years. In October 2024, she curated, as well as participated in, the exhibition Memory and Hope, at Temple Sholom, which commemorated the terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. Her art is displayed in Temple Sholom, which commissioned from her 10 panels depicting Israel’s views from north to south.