{"id":145114,"date":"2023-11-29T17:54:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T15:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=145114"},"modified":"2024-02-19T16:16:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T14:16:57","slug":"ofakim_documentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/ofakim_documentation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who\u2019s Been Documenting the People of Ofakim Since October 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yael Ingel<\/strong><\/p>\n

On October 7, Nadav Mishali wasn\u2019t actually in Ofakim, the southern Israeli which is his home. Instead, he was visiting family who live in central Israel. Two days after the most terrible Saturday we have ever known, he returned to help his hometown and its people.<\/p>\n

A few days later, he was approached by Tal Biliya, a good friend of his from his high school days. Tal lost his brother on that awful day. He knew that Nadav was very familiar with Ofakim and that he was a filmmaker, so he said to him: \u201cGo out and film what\u2019s happening here. People have stories to tell. People need to know what happened here!\u201d This appeal, which came straight from the heart of a bereaved brother, gave Nadav the push he needed to get up and do something \u2013 to do his part to preserve the history and the tragedy of this southern city.<\/p>\n

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Nadav Mishali at the entrance to Ofakim, 2023. Photo: Lior Pingale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the years, Ofakim had been relatively peaceful, aside from occasional rocket fire which is common in this region. The city is situated about 19 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and had never experienced terrorist infiltrations, unlike some of the communities located closer to the Gaza Strip. On that dark Saturday, Ofakim suffered the worst day in its history. Around 50 of the city\u2019s residents were murdered, including civilians and members of the security forces. The shock was enormous, as was the heartbreak. Now, a few weeks later, more and more people can be seen on the streets as they attempt to resume their daily routine. The attempts to pick up the broken pieces and go back to normal can be felt throughout the city, and civil servants and other local functionaries have mobilized to respond to the residents\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

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Hanging out for the evening in Ofakim<\/a>, 1972. Photo: Aliza Orbach, the Aliza Orbach Archive, the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A report marking the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Ofakim. Al HaMishmar, June 27, 1966<\/a><\/em>, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nadav, who serves as the director of the Ofakim Cinematheque, took it upon himself to do the sacred work of producing video documentation of the stories that unfolded in his hometown on October 7. With the help of Miriam Toizer, a social activist and Yad L\u2019Banim<\/em> volunteer, he has been recording the difficult testimonies of the events that took place in this quiet city that was taken by surprise and subjected to brutal attack on the morning of the Simchat Torah holiday.<\/p>\n

The first account Nadav recorded was that of the Biliya family, the family of his friend Tal whose brother Ariel was murdered that Saturday. Nadav spoke with them while they were still sitting shiva \u2013 mourning their terrible loss. Ariel was 28 years old. He was murdered while trying to protect ten members of his family, including his wife and their two young children. He made sure to get everyone out through the window in his parents\u2019 home where they were all gathered, over to the small balcony that holds the home\u2019s solar water heater. Their lives were all saved but Ariel was not able to escape the terrorists in time.<\/p>\n

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The late Ariel Biliya. Photo from a family album.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At first Nadav was dissuaded by the enormity of it all. \u201cWho am I to point a camera at these people while they\u2019re in mourning, during these difficult moments? I felt like I was pulling out a weapon when I took the camera out of my bag in front of the bereaved families.\u201d He quickly noticed the effect that the camera had on the people around him. \u201cAriel\u2019s wife started speaking to me, telling me what had happened, and she suddenly got up from her chair to show me the window they had all escaped from. She started to reenact everything that happened, totally spontaneously, without having planned it out, without me asking her to. That\u2019s when I remembered the power of film.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same day, Nadav also interviewed Michal Biliya, Ariel\u2019s mother, in whose home they all hid and where he was murdered. The Biliya family\u2019s home is burned and completely destroyed from the battle that took place there, but when Nadav asked Michal if she\u2019d be willing to go back, she answered, \u201cOf course! It\u2019s my home!\u201d Nadav says that he has gotten the same response from other interviews as well; Ofakim residents aren\u2019t willing to leave and in fact they feel even more connected to their city ever since the terrible events that took place there.<\/p>\n

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Nadav documenting a story in Ofakim. Photo: Miriam Toizer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That first interview encouraged Nadav to continue documenting the families of those who were murdered, especially once he saw how valuable this documentation was. \u201cI quickly understood that the camera wasn\u2019t something threatening but rather comforting, and I do everything I can to make it transparent so that the person sitting across from me sees me, speaks to me. I\u2019ve realized for example that it\u2019s best if the camera isn\u2019t standing on a tripod; that seems too threatening. But if it\u2019s in my hands, it\u2019s more humane.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ofakim kindergarteners in the early 1960s (<\/a>estimate). Photo: Boris Carmi, the Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even before he started this special project, Nadav (37) was a known figure in the cultural life of Ofakim and had influenced it a great deal. He was born in Ofakim to parents who had emigrated from Morocco, and was raised in a traditional but open-minded home. Nadav chose to attend a religious school and later joined a yeshiva, but when he enlisted in the IDF, he decided he\u2019d no longer wear a kippah, though he remained faithful to his beliefs.<\/p>\n

During his student days, he decided to make a film about an old movie theater that had operated in Ofakim during the 1970s and 1980s. He cherishes childhood memories of visiting the old “Cinema Merchavim” theater and it was a painful moment for him when the establishment went out of business in the 1990s and became an abandoned ruin. When Mishali moved back to Ofakim, he started working on a plan to reintroduce film culture and its accompanying discourse into the city.<\/p>\n