Reflection on a Visit to Kibbutz Be’eri

Burnt house at Kibbutz Be’eri. (courtesy)

The sound of a drone drowned out the
Beautiful song
of birds
while I heard loud
Booms
in the distance 2 miles from Gaza on a
Picture perfect
day
Yarden an avocado farmer spoke about his experience from the day of the unthinkable with tears in his
eyes
Flowers and lemon
trees
in front of scorched buildings that looked like a movie set with items
Strewn about the yard
We learned that each item was scoured for DNA to identify if someone was
dead
or kidnapped
There were 4 young soldiers digging through the earth looking for body parts
Cats wandered about and bathed in the sun I wonder what they
Witnessed
Scorch marks from burnt
cars
I saw ghosts of children
running and playing on
the lawn while listening to a
Voicemail of a
woman
begging for help from Magan David
adom

About the Author

Jody Comins, MSW, is the National Chair of Hadassah Evolve Engagement and a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle. She’s a life-long Zionist and Israel activist since her early days working for the American Zionist Youth Foundation. Currently, Jody leads several annual trips for young women to Israel with Hadassah. In her professional life, she is a Divorce and Family Mediator and the author of “Speaking Out: Voices of Adult Children of Divorce.” Jody lives outside of Boston with her husband and is a “snowbird” in Tel Aviv.