Spirit of Israel organizers hopeful for inaugural festival

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Eilon Kotler survived the October 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists on the Kfar Aza kibbutz he had called home for all of his 40 years. Others were not so lucky.

“They killed us just because we were Jewish,” he says. The kibbutz, with a population of only about 400, lost 62 people in the attack, including Kotler’s best friend. Another 19 were taken hostage, and five of those people remain in Hamas captivity.

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In the aftermath of the attack, and as a way of pushing back against the despair that threatened to overwhelm him, Kotler has become co-founder of Spirit of Israel, a festival of music, arts and ideas, scheduled to take place on the shores of the Dead Sea this December. It will welcome all attendees, regardless of their religion or beliefs.

Kotler was sleeping in the family’s bomb shelter with his six-year-old daughter (the bomb shelter is also her bedroom) on the night before the attack. His other daughter, age nine, was with her aunt at a pyjama party. On the morning of October 7 there was a red alert, so they stayed in the shelter as what “felt like hundreds of rockets” rained down. But that was just the beginning.

“I started to get the messages from the community that we have to stay in the shelters, be quiet, but no one mentioned the terror attack,” he told the Australian Jewish News.

Then came the news. Terrorist infiltration. A friend murdered while protecting his house. “My worst nightmare, something that I can’t imagine.”

From Kotler’s brother-in-law at the pyjama party: “They are behind our door, the terrorists are here, please help us.” And a few tense hours after that: “They are here, save us, please send someone.”

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It wasn’t until 8 p.m. that he learned his older daughter was safe. And it was hours more before soldiers arrived at his house to take him and his other daughter to safety. “I knew that in some houses there were bodies, and friends I grew up with, their child was dead over there, and some of the houses were totally burned,” he said. “It was devastating, it was all destruction, so sad. It was like a dream that collapsed.”

Kotler remembers thinking afterward: “Either I will go to despair or I will do something.”

As a documentary filmmaker, producer and educator who helped set up the Museum of Bedouin Culture in Negev, Kotler was well positioned to work on the project, but he couldn’t do it alone. So he joined forces with Shira Livne, an Australian marketing expert with ties to the kibbutz, where her father had lived as a teenager.

Together they hope to produce a festival that will draw both artists and young people from around the world. “Let’s create stories from people who exist here, and use art, ideas and music to get that across,” says Livne. “We wanted to try and create stories that came from Israel.”

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She’s adamant that Spirit of Israel will be apolitical. “This isn’t a pro-Israel campaign,” she says. “This is a pro-people-who-live-here campaign.” And that necessarily includes all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds, she says.

“I hate the idea that we’re judging every single person in Israel based on their government,” she continues. “If we did that in Australia, if you did that in the U.S. or Canada or the Philippines, which is where I was born, you would think a lot of people were very evil. So that’s really important.”

She and Kotler are hoping to draw 1,500 people to the festival, with as many as half coming from North America and elsewhere in the world. They’re also hoping for a younger crowd. (The December dates are timed to coincide with holiday breaks at universities, to facilitate travel plans.)

“That’s the next people who will make decisions and who will be in power and who now are at the stage in their lives where you’re taking in information, you’re trying to learn as much as possible,” says Livne. “So at least do it knowing what the stranger looks like. Have whatever opinion you want but base it on some kind of reality, not on what you see on social media. Base it on a conversation you’ve had with someone in real life.”

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Kotler believes the picturesque Dead Sea locale will create a meditative backdrop for Spirit of Israel. “You are above the Dead Sea, you can see … in the distance the light of Jordan. And behind you, one of the main stages. And the other stage will be towards the desert. The desert doesn’t end.”

The organizers are still in the early stages of planning, looking for sponsors and seeking out participants. They have met with Chen Zimbalista, an Israeli conductor who works regularly with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, but who also leads Zimbalista’s Music Factory, a multi-faith orchestra that includes Jewish and Arab musicians.

They are also in talks with Israeli rock musician Aviv Geffen, who sang at a peace rally in Tel Aviv in 1995 at which Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. “The last song that Yitzhak Rabin heard in his life,” is how Kotler puts it.

“The idea is we have this festival and it shows the diversity, the beauty and the integrity of the people here,” says Livne.

The organizers have high hopes, tempered by a sense of reality, given the fraught situation in the region today.

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“What we do today can change all of our tomorrows,” Livne says. “That’s the idea that we want. These are the moments that we can create, these positive moments that can lead us into the future. Our actions mean so much, especially now. This is what we want to recognize.”

She adds: “Can we change the world with this? No. But even if a few people come and they have a connection and they see people in a different light, to us that means a lot. The effort itself means something. Hopefully it builds a community as we go.”

And as much as she would love to see people of all faiths attend, she knows that may be wishful thinking, at least for now. (It all goes well, Spirit of Israel could become an annual event.)

“To convince an Australian from Sydney who is in Newtown right now in a pro-Palestinian march, I would love them to come,” she says. “Just experience it and make up your mind instead of doing it online. But realistically the reach we can get is a younger Jewish population. And anyone who wants to come and who went through something on October 7, I think it’s important that they’re there too, to connect with people from overseas.”

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She adds: “It’s a dirty word now to say Jewish, to say Israeli. (This is) something … positive that you can talk about under that banner, because there’s too much hate right now if you use those words. So even if it’s a few positive conversations, something can come from it.”

As to what some might perceive as the irony of holding a festival after events of October 7, which included a massacre at the Nova music festival, Livne is philosophical.

“You’d be surprised at how many festivals are occurring here,” she says. “It’s that slogan: We will dance again. Life here keeps moving. It remembers, it embraces, it fights, but it keeps moving. It doesn’t just stop in the street. So that’s part of the festival. People want to keep moving with life, want to create something.”

Spirit of Israel is scheduled to take place Dec. 26 through 28. More information can be found at SpiritofIsraelFestival.com.

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