The story of Butina Halavi - a Druze artist who dedicates her life to commemorating the Holocaust

In preparation for Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will take place in the coming days, I will bring you some exciting stories. In this article, I chose to tell the amazing story of Butina Halavi, a Druze artist from El Carmel, who dedicates her life to commemorating the Holocaust.

Childhood in Dalit El Carmel

Buthaina was born in Dalit El Carmel to believe וpoetry sturdy She has three brothers and four sisters. She was named after the good, soft and fertile land. In his youth, her father worked with the electric company and later with a contractor from Haifa. Later he opened a deli in the village. Emma, ​​a housewife.

Bothina's paternal grandfather, Hossein Hassan, was the "mukhtar" of Dalit Al Carmel in the old days. She did not get to know her paternal grandparents, who died before her birth.

maternal grandfather, Paddallah is sturdy, says Bothina, was a rich man. From his first marriage, 12 daughters and one son were born. From his second marriage, after the death of his first wife, two more daughters were born. Fadallah built the first school in Dalit Al Carmel, which later became a hotel and is now used as shops. He also owned a butcher's shop and a shop selling products he imported from abroad. Bothina and the other grandchildren used to help their grandfather in his shop.  

"I was a small, quiet and shy girl," Butina tells me. "From a young age I liked to help others and people felt they could trust me."

When she was in the sixth grade, she joined the first traditional dance troupe in the village.

After graduating from the Ort Ronson High School, Bothina attended a training course as a legal secretary at the Haifa Management College and later studied office systems management and business management. In addition, she completed a course as a qualified nurse and volunteer coordinator. In practice, she is not involved in any of these fields, since in 2007 something happened that made her change direction and actually changed her life.

The turning point - the connection to the subject of the Holocaust

In 2007, Butina read an article in a newspaper telling the story of several Holocaust survivors, accompanied by photos. "I read the article and was shocked," she says. "As a member of the Druze community, I knew that six million Jews perished in the Holocaust, but I did not know beyond that. I had never met Holocaust survivors and did not know their personal stories.

From that day on I became deeply attached to the subject of the Holocaust. The pictures and stories touched my heart and I felt an inner need to express the terrible pain and sense of helplessness I saw on the faces of those who perished. From that moment I started drawing and since then I haven't stopped...

The first painting I drew was of the death march of those walking towards their death, without facial features. The reflection symbolizes the call for help. The sprouts at the bottom of the painting symbolize the six million who perished and also sprouting and life."

His educational journey to commemorate the Holocaust

The exposure to the subject of the Holocaust pushed her to deepen her studies on the subject of the Holocaust. She began to read books on the subject and fill in the knowledge gaps and at the same time continued to draw Jewish figures in the concentration camps and ghettos. At first she painted inspired by authentic photos from the Holocaust and later based on the stories of Holocaust survivors who visited the gallery.

A year later, Butina presented her paintings for the first time in an exhibition at the cultural center in the village. The critics were surprised that a Druze artist touches such a sensitive area of ​​the Holocaust and supported her unusual choice. In the second exhibition, which she presented later, she talked about the denial of the Holocaust, a subject that worries her greatly.  

Based on her concept of promoting dialogue, tolerance and acceptance of the other, in 2011 Butina initiated a project called "Dialogue with Neighbors" in collaboration with the Holocaust Museum at Beit Terezin in Kibbutz Givat Haim Ihud. She created a connection between the principals of the schools in the Druze communities of Dalit El Carmel and its suburbs with Beit Terezin and deepened awareness in Druze society about the Holocaust. As part of the activity, Druze students come every year for a study day at the museum about the Holocaust. At the end of the visit, she shows the students her paintings and tells them about the Holocaust in Arabic.

At the same time, Jewish students come to Dalit El Carmel, tour the village and learn about the Druze community, its culture and customs. At the "Yad Labanim" home, they learn about the Druze's strong connection to the State of Israel. At the end of the tour, the students arrive at the gallery, where she tells them how she started dealing with the subject of the Holocaust and talks about our responsibility to remember and tell.

Another activity in which Bothina is integrated is within "Windows for Remembrance", the Ministry of Education's program to commemorate the one and a half million children who perished in the Holocaust. This is a computerized art program, which was developed to give students tools to deal with the issues of preserving the memory of the Holocaust and passing it on to younger generations. She was greatly appreciated for leading educational and value-based activities within the program among the students of Ort Koftan and an innovative science elementary school in Dalit Al Carmel in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.   

Butina voluntarily paints on the walls of kindergartens and schools in the village and initiates projects in the field of education, art and education. Her educational, social and cultural activities in the field of the Holocaust earned her many awards and hundreds of certificates of appreciation, some of which are displayed in the gallery. 

In 2017, Buthaina received the "Network Ambassadors Award" from the University of Haifa for her contribution to the fight against anti-Semitism and racism. A year later, at the annual ceremony at the Mashua Institute, she was awarded a prize in the field of education. At the ceremony, the education prize was also awarded to the Ethiopian band "Shemesh" and 8 awards of excellence to eight high school students for their thesis on the Holocaust.

"The March of Life", a moving experience

In 2014 Butina was invited to participate in the "March of Life" in Poland, as part of a delegation of Israeli artists. It was the first time a Druze woman participated in the parade.

"The parade and the visit to the extermination camps were an exciting, shocking and empowering experience for me," she says. "I was the only Druze in the parade among thousands of people, Jews and Christians, who staffed the various delegations. I did not feel that I was different. I felt that I was marching towards the unknown.

We marched from the Auschwitz gate to Birkenau. When I stood in front of the gate I had chills and was afraid to enter. When we passed the gate that splits into tracks, I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw chimneys left from the crematoria, pavilion after pavilion. I entered one of the pavilions and stood unable to move. There was a strong smell of death, which I still cannot forget. The guide explained to us how twenty people crowded onto one small bunk. We were standing in the pavilion, 17 people in total, and it was crowded... At that moment, a lot of thoughts and questions came to me that have no answers. How can it be that a person lost his human image and became a monster whose sole purpose is to kill and destroy? How does a person become so cruel and evil and the world is silent?" 

Butina returned from the visit to Poland full of emotions, strong and determined to continue on her way. She expressed the intensity of her feelings in strong colors, inspired by the sights and feelings she experienced. Her work "Last Letter", was donated by her to "Yad Vashem".

Watch a video clip in which Butina tells about her feelings on her return from the Parade of Life (Photo: Yael Horowitz)

Looking and crying

At the same time as she went abroad with delegations to present her paintings, Butina's gallery became a pilgrimage center for school students and various groups, alongside delegations from abroad. "You represent and extol the love of man, wherever he is," one of the critics wrote to her. "Continue to light a fire in the hearts, which will be passed on to future generations."

Among the many visitors are also Holocaust survivors. They often stand in front of her paintings and cry. In one of the lectures she gave, an elderly man was sitting in the second row and suddenly started crying traffic signs.

"I couldn't ignore it, she repeats. "I stopped the lecture and went to get him a glass of water. I asked him why he was crying. "As a Holocaust survivor," he said, your paintings remind me of the horrors I went through. But I also cried out of joy that there is someone who is not a member of the Jewish people who is commemorating the Holocaust. Now I can die in peace."

The family is mobilized and supportive

The 45-year-old Butina is a good-looking and opinionated woman, a talented artist, a special woman with a huge heart. She is secular but keeps a modest dress. In this spirit she and her husband Tamir educate their children: Ava, Pras and Gulnar.

When I met with her last week, Butina hosted a group of travelers from the central region at the gallery. It was impossible not to be impressed by the loving mobilization of Tamir, her husband, and her son Peras, a humble and handsome IDF soldier, who help their mother in the important mission she has undertaken, to convey a message to future generations.

Thanks to her extensive activities, her children are familiar with the subject of the Holocaust. Her parents, husband and children are proud of her and support her activities. Their support enables her travels around the world to convey the important message. "I educate my children to love and respect others," says Butina. I make sure that my children know how to accept every person for who they are, regardless of their religion and belief."

In November 2019, Peras traveled with a delegation of young ambassadors to Germany and also participated in a trip to Poland with another delegation. About two months ago, he enlisted in the IDF.  

Eva, his sister, represented Israel in Sweden with the young ambassadors and twice went on delegations to Poland. Although she lived the Holocaust issue at home through her mother's activities, Butina testifies that she returned from the trip with new insights.

This week, in preparation for Holocaust Remembrance Day, an exhibition of some of Butina Halavi's paintings will be shown on the entrance floor of Carmel Hospital.

You can visit בButaina Dalit Al Carmel gallery, by prior arrangement (they gave me a warm hug).