I have been to Beit HaLochem twice in my life, the first time about thirty years ago, when I lived in the neighborhood and saw it rise and grow under the direction and planning of the winner of the tender, the architect David Yanai. A second time on Wednesday, when Bat Sheva Or, the goldsmith teacher, whom I have known for many years, invited me to set up and open the exhibition in person.
Beit HaLochem is a rehabilitative sports and social activity center for the disabled in the IDF and their families and is operated by the IDF Disabled Organization in an exemplary manner. The Beit HaLochem center in Haifa includes scattered facilities including a gym, sports halls, game rooms, a reading club, a cultural hall and a large indoor swimming pool. Beside all of these, enrichment classes are held in various fields and throughout the year. Beit HaLochem in Haifa is evident in its special visual appearance, with well-kept gardens, ornamental gardens and colorful flowers on the side. Beit HaLochem excels in its aesthetics and its cleanliness, and it is simply a pleasure to walk around and walk around in it.
I arrived on Wednesday at the stage of setting up the jewelry exhibition, I admired the creations and the creative people. There I met Albert (Bever) Buchbot, the maintenance man, who has been working there for over twenty-seven years with dedication and perseverance. He is the one who built the goldsmith department and the workshop that used to be a carpentry. Uri Lev was wounded in Suez on the last day of the Yom Kippur War, he excitedly told me how he got to the goldsmith workshop and it's very clear." I had a close friend from an electrical company who was a man of many talents and skills, he worked at Beit HaLochem sculpting goldsmiths painting and other things, he tried to join me for goldsmithing course not so successfully and not more efficiently. One day he suddenly passed away and then "as a fulfillment of his will" I decided to enter the goldsmith class and continue."
I also met Avraham Yanai at the establishment of the exhibition, Yanai is one of the first and founders of the navy's submarine fleet, a man of experience and several wars. I interviewed him in a side hall and he was very open and cordial. Here is the interview with Avraham that sounds very natural and human.
I met there Rachel Shukron, who wears her jewelry on her hands and neck with great taste and wonderful talent and a seven-year-old teacher who has been doing this for over twenty years with great love and devotion and who also deserves a great compliment.
Bat Sheva, the very talented goldsmith teacher, summons Limor, cultural manager of Beit HaLochem. Limor guides me down the stairs to her office and despite the limited time she has, gives me a short interview with a big smile on her face and a lot of love. I receive new and up-to-date information and here is the interview as I heard it directly from her in her unique style.
I say goodbye to Bat Sheva and the friends and return on Thursday for the opening of the exhibition in a beautiful, dignified, moving and very humane ceremony. At the entrance on the lower floor there are three different rooms that are an integral part of the exhibition, in the large hall at the entrance a harpist plays soft and pleasant classical music, in the center of the hall there are various displays and on the walls hang paintings of the disabled from the different classes.
In the first room on the right wooden sculptures and other materials, I admire the level of sculpture and creativity of the participants. In the middle room in the front there are ceramic works by various artists and I meet Uri Dov who came to the exhibition and preceded me, a liaison officer in the Six Day War who served in the Sinai and was wounded in Sharm which literally means "painful wounds", to me he is smiling and welcoming moving from one sculpture to another and giving me explanations.
In another room I find oil paintings and drawings of different participants and I go from picture to picture and slowly visitors come in and there is a lot of activity and character in the place. I climb and go up to the second floor and there the goldsmith exhibition is organized in locked glass showcases with the names of the creators some of whom I already know and greet with joy, in another corner further on textile fabric and colored glass works and I don't want to believe that this was done by amateur disabled artists and not by those who went through art schools for years and acquired Vocational training.
It's after six in the evening, everyone gathers in the ceremonial hall, there on the stage again is the harpist with a young and graceful singer next to her, some sounds of the harp and singing and the ceremony begins with the words of blessing and opening by the director of culture Limor the beautiful, followed by the director of the house, Shai Dobrin and the chairman of Beit HaLochem, Eli Ben Natan, followed by a total of The teachers of the various classes "and the outstanding students" who receive certificates of excellence for participation and performance, and also the teachers who worked for these achievements receive praise and applause from the families present and the satisfied students. The ceremony is over. The year is over. We'll see what the next exhibition holds for us.
Many thanks to Beit HaLochem for the various artists, to Bat Sheva and to Limor, the culture director, for their hospitality and cooperation.