1 00:00:15,010 --> 00:00:18,570 Hello everyone and welcome back to People Juwan and O podcast. 2 00:00:18,610 --> 00:00:21,410 I've got a really special conversation planned for you 3 00:00:21,410 --> 00:00:24,970 today with Shy Klein. Shy is a Canadian Israeli 4 00:00:24,970 --> 00:00:29,410 photographer and public speaker. In October 2023, Shy survived 5 00:00:29,410 --> 00:00:32,450 the Nova Music festival that was attacked by Hamas in the South 6 00:00:32,450 --> 00:00:35,650 of Israel, which was a defining moment that reshaped Shy's 7 00:00:35,650 --> 00:00:37,530 artistic vision and personal mission. 8 00:00:37,690 --> 00:00:40,650 Beginning the following day, he committed himself to advocacy 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,160 through education and first hand testimony, using his voice and 10 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,560 photo documentation from that day to confront anti-Semitism 11 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,000 and share realities of that experience. 12 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,800 Shai has spoken in over 250 cities in the US, including 13 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,600 universities, synagogues, and community organizations focusing 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,560 on awareness, empathy, and the human cost of violence. 15 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,280 He has also collaborated with ESSEC to curate the ESSEC Nova 16 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,760 collection as a way of supporting Israeli small 17 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,520 businesses owned by Nova survivors, while continuing to 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,800 advocate for Expanded PTSD, mental health care, and long 19 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,320 term structural support, emphasizing the need for a 20 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:18,440 sustained institutional responsibility beyond initial 21 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,880 awareness. It's always sensitive to chat 22 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,800 with survivors about their experience, and I'm so grateful 23 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,360 to Shy for giving us his unfiltered testimony. 24 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,040 There's a lot we don't know or don't realize about the on the 25 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,560 ground reality for Israelis. For starters, the aid system in 26 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,000 Israel wasn't ever designed to accommodate such a large volume 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,720 of survivors. As Shy alludes to in the 28 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,160 episode, there were people who had tickets to Nova and never 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,560 attended and could still qualify for benefits. 30 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,680 Unfortunately, there is fraud for those who survived in need 31 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:50,440 care. The bureaucracy of the Israeli 32 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,760 aid system makes it incredibly difficult to operate as a 33 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,560 survivor. You have to take meetings, 34 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:57,280 advocate for yourself, follow up. 35 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,960 For example, Shy was telling me about a system by which a 36 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,280 survivor qualifies for different levels of aid depending on their 37 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,160 level of disability. This conceptually makes sense. 38 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,960 Someone who is an amputee, for instance, needs different levels 39 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,000 of aid than someone who is physically fine and suffered 40 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,880 maybe only psychological damage. There's a certain point system 41 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,720 in Israel by which someone asking for aid provides the 42 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,720 status, quote UN quote, of disability. 43 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,200 That status has to be updated with the government over time to 44 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,800 continue to receive benefits. A survivor might have to find a 45 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,160 therapist who can validate their status, and then the survivor 46 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,920 would appear in court or in an office on a certain day to 47 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:40,560 confirm their status and standing with the government. 48 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,920 These appointments are not easy to book, so if a survivor is 49 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:47,200 traveling for speaking engagements, they would have to 50 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,480 ask for an extension on the appointment window to retain 51 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,880 their benefits. Can you just picture somebody 52 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,160 who has experienced severe PTSD having to navigate this 53 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,600 administrative burden alone? It like it's incomprehensible. 54 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,240 Additionally, Shy also discusses how difficult it has been for 55 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,560 survivors to find jobs, especially because a lot of jobs 56 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:09,840 might trigger their PTSD TSD symptoms. 57 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,440 Yes, it's been over 2 years since October 7th, but we can't 58 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,080 look away from the actual reality of the situation. 59 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,880 Please continue to engage and support our people. 60 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,440 This episode will give you a ton of perspective and remind you of 61 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,360 the incredible strength of our survivors. 62 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:28,160 Now let's hear from Shai. Shai, welcome to People You want 63 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:29,920 to Know podcast. Thanks so much for being here. 64 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,240 Nice to see you again. Again, it's just been such a 65 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,840 privilege to get to know you and, you know, feel kind of your 66 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,440 energy and get a glimpse into your world. 67 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,520 And I'm so grateful for the conversation. 68 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,440 Please tell us about yourself. What do you do and how did you 69 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,920 get there? So I am from Toronto. 70 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:53,960 I lived in a place called Etobicoke for about 13 years and 71 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:59,440 then when I was 13, give or take, my family moved to the 72 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,160 north of Ontario in a town called Ennisville. 73 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:08,320 You know, in Ennisville in Etobicoke, there's like known 74 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,680 Jewish population. Etobicoke, the Queens were in 75 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,720 Royal York where I grew up. It was like mostly like Polish 76 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,560 Orthodox, Ukrainian, Italian, Greek Orthodox neighborhood. 77 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:23,800 And Innisfil is mostly just like non Jews, you know, Christians, 78 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,920 Catholics and anybody else who might want to live up there. 79 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:29,640 And there's Jewish community, but only during the summer when 80 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:34,640 it's, you know, cottage season. You know, my family, my mom is 81 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:37,680 Israeli. My dad is a secular Canadian 82 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,720 Jew. And I was raised, you know, 83 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:46,440 knowing my family's Israeli, knowing I'm Jewish, knowing 84 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,720 about the holidays and like the basic stuff, knowing what 85 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,960 Shabbat is. You know, we did Hanukkah and 86 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,320 Passover. But, you know, the only Torah 87 00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:59,280 portion I ever read was on bar mitzvah. 88 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,400 You know, I did fill in. I could count it on one hand. 89 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:07,760 It was almost 0 times at all. You know, I owned maybe 30 or 40 90 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:09,680 keepers. That's only because my grandma 91 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,440 keeps giving them to me every time I see her and I wear them 92 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,000 more now. So for me, my Jewish upbringing 93 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,280 was really not the norm for a lot of people. 94 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,440 You know, after October 7th, I was introduced to basically 95 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,360 everything for the first time. Didn't know what Hillel was, 96 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,320 Didn't know what Stand With Us was. 97 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:33,200 I mean, I don't understand what else was, but not exactly what 98 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,360 they do. Didn't know about SSI, didn't 99 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,280 know about all these student organizations, didn't know about 100 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:41,080 all these nonprofits like the UJA. 101 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,440 So it was. All you know, like. 102 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,280 A huge amount of information to absorb post October 7th. 103 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:52,640 Because for me, not having that Jewish community in Canada and 104 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,480 moving to Israel was like, well, that's all I need. 105 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,080 I'm here in Israel. What more could I want? 106 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,840 You know, it's, it's like everyone around me is a Jew. 107 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,680 Not everyone. But it was really like, I don't 108 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,280 know, I hate to say the term like going back home, you know, 109 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,960 and I feel much more at home in Israel than I do in Canada. 110 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,040 And not to diss Canada, it's just I don't get along as well 111 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:21,360 with Westerners as I do with. People from Israel. 112 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,640 I was going to ask you what made you, what brought you to make 113 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:26,600 aliyah? So my mom's family is from there 114 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:29,160 on my cousins on her side, grandparents, etc. 115 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,320 I'm much closer with her side of the family, my dad's side of the 116 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,440 family and my grandparents are still alive on my mom's side, 117 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:38,320 not my dad's side. And they live in Israel. 118 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:43,160 They live in Natanya, which is a very, very nice city on the 119 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,800 beach. And so that's the reason, you 120 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:47,600 know, to be closer to my grandparents who are in their 121 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,840 late 80s, to be closer to my cousin, who now has a baby girl 122 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,760 and closer to like majority of my family. 123 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,720 You know, everyone in Canada is my mom, my brother, my dad, and 124 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,240 that's it. And that's, you know, a lot 125 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:01,440 easier to manage at a distance than the other half. 126 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:06,640 You had made aliyah just like a mere maybe weeks before. 127 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,440 You attended the Nova Music Festival on October 7th with 128 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,680 your family and friends. You were just settling in and 129 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,120 immigrating to another country. Can you take us back to that 130 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,560 time in your life and how everything played out? 131 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:20,720 Yeah, I came to Israel on vacation. 132 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:22,560 It wasn't like I didn't plan to move. 133 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,680 I didn't have some sort of Zionistic urge that said go back 134 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,240 to your homeland. It was just I have a Canadian 135 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,000 passport, I have an Israeli passport, so those are my 136 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,680 options of where I can live. So I chose Israel. 137 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,280 I figured I'm 26, I'm going to go on vacation and spend a month 138 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,720 in Israel and that'll be my birthday gift to myself, see my 139 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,800 family, see my grandparents and have a good time because I've 140 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,080 never been to Israel as an adult, only like 15 years old, 141 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,080 14 years old, not the same trip when you're over the age of 18. 142 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,800 So I go there and I go to my first party, I go to my first 143 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,640 rave, I go to my first nature party out in the woods. 144 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:02,520 You know, my cousin convinces me to do acid for the first time, 145 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,400 doing all these things for the first time that are totally 146 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,640 opposite to who I am. When I was living in Canada and 147 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,360 you know, at the end of my one month vacation I decided you 148 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:15,840 know, why not? You know, I brought with me 149 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,040 everything I cared about, which is mostly my camera year and 150 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:20,440 that was it. You know, clothes you can buy 151 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,640 more of. Anything else I don't really 152 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,560 have ties to? So I figured I'm just going to 153 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:28,760 stay. I froze my return ticket back 154 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,040 home, which means you can use it in a year if you pay a fee. 155 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,480 And I just stayed. And I slept on my cousin's sofa 156 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,960 for like 4 months. 4 1/2, five months and I was just, you know, 157 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,280 looking for work, trying to get an apartment, trying to set 158 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:45,720 roots. Just made Alia in June 2023. 159 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,440 So just a couple months after I arrived and it was amazing. 160 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:56,880 And then in September, my cousin's neighbor, who is one of 161 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:01,680 the producers of the Nova, he comes over and one floor above 162 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:04,520 us, he comes over and he says, guys come to this music 163 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:05,680 festival, it's going to be amazing. 164 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,720 And I'm like, no, maybe I don't want to go. 165 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:10,720 Maybe I do want to go. It's music festival. 166 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:12,520 It's going to be allowed. There's been a lot of people, 167 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,240 you know, I've got like, anxiety issues. 168 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,000 So I'm like, on the fence. But my cousin says yes right 169 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:19,320 away. His girlfriend says yes right 170 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,280 away. And a bunch of our friends 171 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,040 slowly, slowly say yes, say no. We're a group of eight people 172 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,280 total. And maybe like 2 1/2 weeks 173 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:29,600 before I decide, OK, I'm going to get a ticket, I'll go. 174 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:31,440 And now I'm part of this group as well. 175 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,240 And this is my first time going to a music festival in Israel in 176 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,880 a country I just moved to. Well, I don't speak the 177 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:39,280 language. You know, I started the old pond 178 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:43,560 like a week before. So my Hebrew was not good. 179 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:46,880 You know, I like to say my favorite thing in Hebrews to say 180 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:51,120 is, you know, Anilo Metaber, beef wreaths, liha anika Nadi. 181 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,320 It's just like. You know I live in Tel. 182 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,640 Aviv for a reason. And I know I have to find Hebrew 183 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,280 and I'm going to, but, you know, under normal circumstance, it's 184 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,400 hard to focus and learn them. And so, you know, I'm just 185 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,520 taking my time with it and focusing on different things 186 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,640 right now. After we were invited and we put 187 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,320 together our little cohort of people who are going to go to 188 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,600 the festival, it was a friend's birthday party. 189 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,440 And my cousin and myself, we all coordinated rides. 190 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:23,120 You know, two friends are already there. 191 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:24,840 They got a camp spot picked out for us. 192 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,080 The festival starts at midnight. And so me and my cousin and some 193 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,080 friends. So I'm going with one car, my 194 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:33,840 cousin and another car, and then the third vehicles are there. 195 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,000 We're driving down that night from Tel Aviv. 196 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,200 It's like an hour drive from my friend Scheer's birthday party, 197 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,320 which is the 7th of October, unfortunately. 198 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,920 And on the drive down with my friend Dor, my friend. 199 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:49,080 Now, I didn't know him before. He's the first time I met him 200 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,400 and he doesn't speak any English at all. 201 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:53,680 And I don't speak any Hebrew really. 202 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,800 So he just communicated by playing music that we liked in 203 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,800 the car and being like, yeah, tov Yolfi, that's a gift. 204 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:06,480 And it was really fun drive and we get there and we pull up the 205 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:09,640 dirt path to the parking lot. And the first thing that I 206 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,240 noticed, besides the music, besides the lights, besides the 207 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,640 immense amount of people, there's like 3000 people there. 208 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,680 Something who knows is that there's just a huge line up. 209 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,800 But usually you see the line and you're like, you're dreaded at 210 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:25,720 the sight of it. But you know, you're gonna get 211 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:28,000 in the festival, we're all gonna get in the same place. 212 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:29,880 We're all gonna dance to the same music in the same party. 213 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,480 So I'm not in a rush because it's going until 4:30 in the 214 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,120 afternoon the next day. So we have so much time and I'm 215 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,880 seeing people on the line. They're having a good time in 216 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:43,360 the line, which is not something I feel like you'd see in other 217 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:46,400 places. And so we get in the festival, 218 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,520 we get our wristbands from the security, we check our bags. 219 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:52,680 Now we see guys with guns, they have handguns, they have rifles. 220 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:57,280 But it's like festival security, not a top secret IDF base here. 221 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:02,120 And so we get in the festival and you can see in the camping 222 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,480 area, the overnight area, everybody is having a good time. 223 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:10,080 You look around, I swear to God, of the thousands of people 224 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,120 there, the only people who were not enjoying themselves had not 225 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,200 arrived yet or were taking a nap because they're sober, you know? 226 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:21,840 And it was a really crazy variety of people. 227 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,480 You know, the oldest. Person there was 70. 228 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,280 Five years old, like your grandparents age. 229 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,040 And there's people who are lawyers and doctors and nurses 230 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,320 and teachers and, you know, people who started their own 231 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,240 high tech companies and, you know, it's like no one 232 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:41,280 demographic. And it was really interesting to 233 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,320 see. And it was really amazing 234 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,040 because everybody is, you know, inviting you over to smoke with 235 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,520 them or drink with them or offer you to sit down and some food. 236 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:51,160 And you know, who are you? Where are you from? 237 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,840 And you know, everybody's like really wants to be your friend. 238 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,560 And it was probably like one of the most amazing parties I had 239 00:12:57,560 --> 00:13:01,040 experienced living in Israel and me. 240 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,600 We get to the we get to the campground that our friends had, 241 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:06,960 you know, locked down for us. And we all get settled in. 242 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:09,960 We get our bags unpacked. And then we make our way into 243 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:12,440 the main festival ground where it's like, you know, we're 244 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,200 presented with everything that's like, wow, Oh my God, you know, 245 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:16,280 it's like. Wow, my first music. 246 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:18,080 Festival this is so crazy because when I picture in my 247 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,920 head is like North American style music festivals like EDC 248 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:28,120 or Coachella, I just pictured like 8000 people crowded against 249 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,920 one single stage and like 2 dirty toilets with no toilet 250 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:37,000 paper and hot dogs or something that costs like 50 bucks each. 251 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:42,120 And you know, just that's it's totally opposite of what I had 252 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,600 as a mental image in my mind. And you know, all throughout the 253 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,360 night, I'm either I'm dancing with my friends or I'm like 254 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,560 taking a break and I got my camera and I'm walking around 255 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:53,000 and I'm using that as an excuse to make new friends and take 256 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,600 pictures and just document my first music festival. 257 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:57,920 I'm not working for the Nova or anything. 258 00:13:58,080 --> 00:13:59,760 It was a great way to make friends, right? 259 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,560 Yeah. You could take portraits of 260 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:03,800 people and chat with them. Yeah, well, I chose to use a 261 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,200 film camera on purpose because it's like, OK, I got your photo, 262 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,280 but now I want to talk to you like in an outside party 263 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,400 environment and maybe hang out and get to know you better. 264 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,000 So sorry I can't give you the photo tonight. 265 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,200 You got to wait, you know, like a week and a half, two weeks 266 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:19,400 till I develop the film and scan it and then I'll send it to you. 267 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,520 So it's like a positive form of manipulation. 268 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,600 I don't know how to describe it, but it's like a secret tool to 269 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,960 make friends, you know, I feel. And it's only ever worked out 270 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,080 and, you know, because of it, I have some really amazing friends 271 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,520 that I wouldn't otherwise have. And you know, on the on the 272 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,040 night and the day off, you know, from at 2:00 AM when we arrived. 273 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,800 At the festival. Until we got back home to Tel 274 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:46,320 Aviv at 9:47 in the morning. The entire time in between, I'm 275 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,480 walking around and taking photos no matter what's happening. 276 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:54,120 The only time I'm not taking photos is if it's an impediment 277 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,520 to my safety, you know? So halfway through the night, a 278 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:00,560 little bit more than halfway, actually. 279 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:05,520 Like around 5. AMI, get a friend a text, my 280 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,400 friend Ellie, and she says shy. Everybody went back to take 281 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:10,960 acid. You know, we're a group of eight 282 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:15,760 people and of our group of eight, everybody took MDMA at 283 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,920 like 2:00 in the morning. We arrived and five of our group 284 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:24,400 of eight took acid at like 5530 in the morning just before the 285 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,080 attack began. And so it's me and my friend 286 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,520 Eleanor and my friend Dor who did not take acid. 287 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:37,920 And Eleanor doesn't drive. So now it's just me and my 288 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,760 friend Dor who are in a place where it's like I'm confident 289 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,120 and I feel like I can drive us home safely. 290 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,240 And so again, this is before anything happens. 291 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,800 And so she texts me, Everyone want to take take acid. 292 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:54,880 I'm at the mainstage waiting for you. 293 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:56,800 We'll head back together, you know, come find me. 294 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,400 We'll head back together. And I go to the mainstage and 295 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,440 it's to the mainstage. It's as busy as you can imagine. 296 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,920 Anybody who wants to have a good time, they're here. 297 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,760 And you know, I'm not like some 7 foot tall basketball player 298 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,240 who can just look above everyone and spot my friend. 299 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,240 And she's also not huge, so it's hard to find one person in this 300 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:18,360 crowd. But eventually I find her. 301 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,920 But it's only because the music, it's stopped now. 302 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:28,200 And the producer came over the speaker and says, you know, so 303 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,360 have a Dome code red, the party's over, there's rockets. 304 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,600 And then the security started ushering people towards the camp 305 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,920 area, towards the parking lot, just doing their best to make 306 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:39,160 sure people knew the party was over. 307 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:44,400 And so the Rockets started before 630, like the seconds 308 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:46,640 before. But 630 is when everyone noticed 309 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,520 the music stopped. And so I find my friend Eleanor. 310 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,320 We head back to our friends and it's like total chaos. 311 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,360 You have people who left right away, people who were like left 312 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,280 the second the Rockets began and got home safe. 313 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,480 And you have people who left just a minute or minutes after 314 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:03,800 them and didn't make it home at all. 315 00:17:04,319 --> 00:17:07,560 And the main way people were going, not everyone but majority 316 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:12,920 of people was north on Road 232, which unfortunately there was 317 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,880 Hazmataz terrorists. And people encountered these 318 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,319 terrorists. Many of them did not survive, 319 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,319 but somebody who first went down that road and encountered them 320 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,560 turned around and warned the security and warned the police. 321 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:32,240 And so from like, I don't know, 7:00-ish, 7/30, I don't know. 322 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,560 But at some point the police blocked the road to the north 323 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,440 where we wanted to go. So we get to the parking lot 324 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,200 from the main festival ground. We're done packing up our stuff. 325 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:44,760 We're next to the car, loading it up. 326 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:46,840 We decided who's going to drive. You know, we came in three 327 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,720 vehicles, but we don't care. We're going to leave in 2. 328 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,160 We're going to just abandon one and we'll come back and return 329 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,560 it when everyone's sober. So it's me and my cousin 330 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:57,160 Mordecai and his girlfriend of eight years. 331 00:17:57,480 --> 00:17:59,600 And my friend Ellie and my friend. 332 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,840 Yeah, Al in one vehicle, and then my friends Barack, Doraz 333 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:07,200 and Almog in another vehicle. And so we're loading up, getting 334 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:13,880 ready to go and like exactly between 7:45 in 8:00 AM, like in 335 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,600 that 1520 minute window, Hamas shut up and we were in the 336 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:18,880 parking lot. So we didn't see them. 337 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,560 But you know, it's the machine guns, it's explosions. 338 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:23,360 You don't need a line of sight to hear these things. 339 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,920 And so we all look at each other like what's going on? 340 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,360 Oh my God, holy crap. And you hear words in Hebrew, 341 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,200 which I don't know, these are new words to me. 342 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:37,960 This is Pigua Mehabel Mehablim, which is like terrorist terror 343 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,280 attack, you know, danger words that you don't want to be 344 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,320 hearing. And when we climb in the car, 345 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:45,440 noticing like, OK, something bad is going on. 346 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:50,160 And I'm driving at this point, so I'm not focused on my camera. 347 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,240 My camera's in my lap, hands are both on the wheel. 348 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,040 And we're like in this toy car. We're in like a Mitsubishi 349 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:57,760 Lancer. For anybody who knows cars, it's 350 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,840 a Honda Civic. It's a 4 door, 5 seater car, 351 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,800 teeny tiny. And I drive out of the parking 352 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,320 lot as fast as I can, slamming my brakes, honking my whore and 353 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:10,920 trying not to kill people because people are running 354 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,520 across the road. And from the parking lot to the 355 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:16,960 main road, there's like a little hill you have to drive down. 356 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:19,880 And anybody who's been there will know about this road. 357 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,200 For us, it was unpaved, unraveled, just dirt. 358 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:25,400 There was no parking lot that it's there now. 359 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,120 None of the construction that exists there now was there for 360 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:29,400 us. We had no shelters. 361 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,280 We had the trees, we had the cars, we had the stage, and we 362 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:34,280 had the dirt under our feet and that was it. 363 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:39,360 And so I see this traffic jam. If anybody has been to a concert 364 00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:42,080 and they leave the concert, this is what it was like for us, 365 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:46,920 except now there's terrorists with Kalashnikovs and flip flops 366 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,000 and combat vests and hand grenades chasing us. 367 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,720 And so I just look at this traffic jam and I think, screw 368 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:53,960 this. I'm not waiting for anybody. 369 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,480 And I drive around it, around everybody, and I push my way 370 00:19:57,480 --> 00:19:59,360 into the very front, the main road. 371 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,560 And then, OK, I look to the left and there's police. 372 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:04,880 I can't go left. And the police are directing 373 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,240 people to the right, which is South parallel to Gaza towards 374 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:09,800 Egypt. And I'm like, well, this is not 375 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,560 the way of Tel Aviv. I don't want to go here. 376 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:13,960 I didn't know there was terrorists that way killing 377 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,160 people. I just knew that I didn't want 378 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,720 to go and sit in more traffic because we just dealt with this 379 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,240 and there was machine gunfire. And I'm like freaking out 380 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,840 internally, you know, my, I didn't have any sort of. 381 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,040 Sample watch. But I'm sure would have said 270 382 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,760 beats per minute for my heart. It was really, you know, the 383 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,320 fight or flight. And so I drive into a field, you 384 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,880 know, I'm thinking, OK, in Canada, fields means, you know, 385 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,720 house, barn, shed, you know, road for farm equipment, 386 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,520 something, whatever. I just hope that Israel was 387 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,160 advanced enough to have come up with this sort of logistical 388 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,600 system for their farmland. And so I drive us into this 389 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,680 field and we maybe make it like 30 feet, 40 feet, like no 390 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,800 distance at all. And then somewhere from behind 391 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:00,280 us, terrorists were shooting at us like everybody in this field. 392 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:05,160 So there's hundreds of people in this field in car or on foot, 393 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,360 and terrorists in the main road with a line of sight to us and 394 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,920 just opening fire arbitrarily. And my cousin's girlfriend 395 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,000 screams like bloody murder to get out of the car and to run. 396 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,560 And for a second I questioned him like why run? 397 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,880 And then she's just like. Screaming get out, get out, gun. 398 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,440 I'm like, I'm like panicking. I can't decide what to do or 399 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,080 what not to do. So I'm like, OK, screw it. 400 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,000 I run. And then we're all ducking in 401 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,440 this field, holding on to each other, just making yourselves a 402 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,760 small target, not moving. And then my cousin, an acid, 403 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,160 comes back to the car, stops running, gets in the driver's 404 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,240 seat, comes back to us, says yell again. 405 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,040 And I say, great, you brought us the car. 406 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:43,520 Let me drive because I'm not an acid. 407 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,000 He's like, no, fuck you, I'm driving, I get in the passenger 408 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,680 seat, I don't care, I just want to go home. 409 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:52,720 And now there's nothing left for me to do except open up my 410 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,800 phone, pull up Waze, try and find the nearest Rd. 411 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,640 I have his phone in my left hand taking video, and I have my 412 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,080 camera in my right hand taking photos because now I'm in the 413 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,280 passenger of a car. What am I going to do? 414 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,640 Taking photos isn't going to put me in more or less danger, you 415 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:09,640 know? So that's what we're doing. 416 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,800 And we're driving through fields for like 45 minutes. 417 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,080 You know, the drive we made was from the Nova site towards 418 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:19,760 Netivolt. And then we made it to Main 419 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:21,360 Roads and made it towards Tel Aviv. 420 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,680 But driving from the Nova site to Netivolt took us almost an 421 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:26,640 hour. You know, in real life, when 422 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:28,880 you're not being chased by terrorists and you can drive on 423 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,400 roads, it takes you like 20 minutes Max. 424 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,680 And so only once we got to Netivolt did my cousin and I 425 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,320 start seeing like, serious shit because, you know, before we're 426 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,000 in the front seat focused on driving, focused on, you know, 427 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,320 what's in front of us and, and what's next and what our 428 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:46,800 objective is and how to navigate. 429 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:49,680 And the girls in the back seat who are not responsible for 430 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:54,440 driving are way more free to look around and see all the shit 431 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,880 around us. And so they saw a lot more than 432 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:01,280 we did up until Nettie vote. And now we're seeing zero 433 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,240 soldiers, no soldiers the whole time, only heavily armored 434 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,680 police reporters, you know, Magan Davida Dome people going 435 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:14,560 to help and other civilian cars. And we're starting to see cars 436 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,880 that are abandoned, crashed, facing the wrong way, facing the 437 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,040 right way, riddled with bullets, you know, broken glass, blood on 438 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:24,720 the ground, you know, all the belongings from inside the car, 439 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,200 outside the car, people hanging out of the car that are dead, 440 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:29,840 you know, body parts here and there. 441 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,480 And it's like the end of a Quentin Tarantino movie. 442 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:39,840 It's like, you know, Death Race, It's the most insane thing ever. 443 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:42,600 And we're driving down this road and the only time we stop is for 444 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,080 checkpoints by the police, you know, no soldiers again, just 445 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,520 police. And, you know, all these 446 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,880 checkpoints, we're thinking, we're thinking like, OK, do we 447 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,040 stop for these guys or do we hit them with the car and kill them? 448 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,080 Because we don't know if they're actually terrorists or not. 449 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:57,520 Because we know they stole uniforms. 450 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:58,840 You're like questioning everything. 451 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:02,360 We question everything because we don't know what's real and, 452 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,000 you know, not danger to us because we don't know where the 453 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:07,600 danger is. We don't know how far it is. 454 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,600 Like we've been driving for 45 minutes and now we're seeing 455 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,800 dead bodies on the floor. We saw so many dead bodies. 456 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:20,480 I learned that you can tell how somebody, if they died in motion 457 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,880 or standing still based on the way the body has fallen. 458 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:29,080 So you'll see one 2-3 people all facing the same direction as if 459 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,040 they were running in the same way, shot in the back or 460 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,360 something like that. And it was really scary. 461 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,920 And we're at this stretch of Rd. between the Devote and Steroid 462 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:42,280 34, and we see boom, boom, boom, cars, bodies, bodies, bodies, 463 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,920 cars. And then there's no one in the 464 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,000 road alive. It's just us and these bodies. 465 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:54,000 And we see a silver car way down the road and next to it is these 466 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,600 two guys and they're wearing black jeans and cargo pants and 467 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:03,440 black T-shirts and black masks over their face and they're 468 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:07,520 holding machine guns. And we slid up because we think 469 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:09,520 it's a checkpoint. We hit checkpoint that all the 470 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,040 checkpoints have like between two and like 15 police officers. 471 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,120 That was like the least we ever saw was like 2 guys. 472 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:17,640 So we thought maybe it's a checkpoint. 473 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,840 And we're like this far from their vehicle. 474 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,160 They're standing next to a car and we're still in our car and 475 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,600 we're this close to them with our vehicle. 476 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,200 I can see the eyes through the mask of one of them. 477 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,240 The other guy, his back is to us so we can't see his face. 478 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,120 And his arms from the tips of his fingers are red with blood. 479 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,360 And the car next to them, all the glass broken bullet holes in 480 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:43,520 the door. And a young man and a woman in 481 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,000 the front seat who'd been killed. 482 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,600 And these two guys just standing there menacingly. 483 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:53,560 And one of them who does see us, his gun is lower and he draws 484 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,840 his gun and points it at us. And we're screaming at my 485 00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,920 cousin, don't slow down anymore, keep going, like losing our 486 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:02,240 minds. And we drive by and he doesn't 487 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,960 shoot us and he doesn't yell at us and he doesn't throw a 488 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,000 grenade and he doesn't curse at us in Arabic. 489 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,640 He doesn't call for his buddies to do an ambush or anything like 490 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:14,000 that. And we don't know what the hell 491 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:16,920 we just experienced. There's no. 492 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,360 Reason. We have no processing power. 493 00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:23,680 We're just like now. We're in the home, Tel Aviv, 947 494 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,240 in the morning, alive, all five of us in the car. 495 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:29,520 Don't know where our friends are, don't know what's going on, 496 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,400 don't know if the rest of the country's going to get attacked. 497 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:33,320 No idea. Anything. 498 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:38,520 And for 10 hours, over 7 1/2 hours, we learned nothing about 499 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,880 our friends. Our other three friends, my 500 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,240 friends Barack Almagondoras, they hid in a Bush for over 6 501 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:49,040 1/2 / 7 hours listening to the sounds of murder and terror 502 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,400 around them while terrorists did their thing in a field just 503 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,240 outside the Nova. But they survived. 504 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,160 We heard from one of the cousins or brothers of Dora that they 505 00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:58,720 survived, and they're like, OK, thank God. 506 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:00,680 So all eight of us who went survived. 507 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,280 Amazing. And the next thing was like, OK. 508 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,280 So. What about all the people I just 509 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:07,320 met? You know, what are all these 510 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:08,320 people? Are they all alive? 511 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:09,640 Are they all dead? What's going on with them? 512 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,920 Because I didn't want to have to, you know, post on Facebook 513 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,560 and be like, hey, so if your friend or your kids dead, let me 514 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,480 know and I'll send you this last picture. 515 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:24,240 I'm smiling. And so I took from October 2023 516 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,440 until the end of December to find out what happened to 517 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,360 everyone. And of the 54 people whose 518 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:31,640 photos I did take on October 7th? 519 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,040 52 of them survived so. I got to see them again. 520 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,240 I got to hug them. I got to talk with them with, 521 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,480 you know, we hung out. You know, some of them are very 522 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,200 close friends of me now. And the two who did not make it, 523 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:49,480 Dora Avitan, who was 26 from a lot and Ran Shaffer who was from 524 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,240 Kibitz Berry, you know, I printed their photos, I framed 525 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,920 them. I had them scanned because it 526 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,480 was film. I had them scanned at a super, 527 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,600 super high resolution and give everything to their families. 528 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,360 Once I found them and I told them like, you know, if you need 529 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:05,360 new copies, I can get it printed for free. 530 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:06,960 I'll send you as many as you want, whatever. 531 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,640 And I've been in touch with their families and with 532 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:14,640 permission anytime I visit a community in Canada or the US or 533 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,840 a school and I talk about my experience, which is something I 534 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,760 do a lot. Post October 7th, I mentioned 535 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,320 Dora and R.E.M., again with permission from the families as 536 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,320 a way to sort of talk about what their experience like who they 537 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,920 were and what happened to them. And you know, I've been doing 538 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:35,320 this since November 5th, 2023, so just a month later. 539 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:39,840 And for that first year, from November 5th, 2023 until like 540 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,840 the end of 2024, it was just like a total blur for me. 541 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:50,920 I was just so motivated to help out in some way, to advocate and 542 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:56,360 speak about what we experienced in a non biased manner. 543 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,080 You know, I'm not telling people in schools to hate Palestinians. 544 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,120 I'm not telling people to love anyone specific. 545 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,600 I'm not telling people to love the Israeli government or this 546 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,840 politician or that politician or to hate this person or to hate. 547 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,520 I'm just talking about my experience as a matter of fact 548 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,680 and my perspective on things. You know, I tell students, you 549 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,320 know, I'm not going to answer political questions. 550 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,800 If you want to talk politics, we can talk privately one-on-one 551 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:23,400 after. But that's not what I'm here to 552 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,360 do. And I was super clear about 553 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,000 that. I'm my Instagram, I'll post 554 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,040 political shit because it's my Instagram and I can do what I 555 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,000 want there. But I don't do this in schools 556 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,120 and I don't do this in front of an audience. 557 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,720 And so for me, I just wanted to get to as many places as I could 558 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,880 and share this thing. And it was just like way too 559 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:43,360 intense. And a lot of people did the 560 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,880 same. I saw hostages who were released 561 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,040 do the same thing for the first period of time, super intense 562 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,880 and like, you know, get to a point of near burnout and other 563 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,080 Nova survivors. And you know, I'm not the only 564 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,560 person who did it, but I did it really early and I got to see 565 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,640 other people do the same thing. And so when I saw friends who 566 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,640 were willing to speak about experience, I told them like, 567 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,400 these are the mistakes I made. Just so you know, because it's 568 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,280 like really hard mentally, you know, you go on this speaking 569 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,680 tour. That's not like when some 570 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,240 influencer will go on a speaking tour and talk about who knows 571 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:16,280 what. I have no idea. 572 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:20,400 Like this is communities or schools will ask a Nova survivor 573 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,640 or. Raised hostage, they come talk 574 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,320 about your. Experience and this is asking 575 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:30,520 them, asking us to come and like RIP out a piece of ourselves for 576 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,880 an audience. And it's incredibly difficult to 577 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,360 do, even if you know. You see people. 578 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,760 Doing it a lot, it doesn't mean it's less difficult and the time 579 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:48,320 in which you start doing it from the Nova like distance from has 580 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,800 an effect on that. So because I started doing it 581 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,440 really early. And it was just like a form of. 582 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,080 Avoidance, I suppose. I was receiving therapy. 583 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:57,880 I was receiving therapy very early. 584 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:00,680 I haven't stopped receiving therapy unless it's for like 585 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,320 scheduling reasons, you know, bad timing. 586 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,880 My therapist, but I haven't stopped and I've received like 587 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,600 lots of different treatments, psychedelic assisted therapy, 588 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,480 which has been amazing, like the best I've ever done. 589 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:17,400 But even with therapy, going to maybe like 200 communities in a 590 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,160 six month period is very intense. 591 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,720 And you know, sometimes I would speak two or three times a day. 592 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,360 That's not including virtual interviews or phone interviews. 593 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:29,960 That's just in person speaking engagements. 594 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:35,400 And so mentally I wasn't there, you know, I was just like, I 595 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,040 don't remember the conversations I had. 596 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,160 I don't remember. Most of the people I met. 597 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:41,880 I don't remember some of the people who were very kind and 598 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,440 hosted me in their homes. Not because I don't care about 599 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:50,320 them, just because I was just so I don't know how to describe it. 600 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:55,320 And so after the first year, I noticed this and I took a very 601 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,720 long break, like 6 months, almost a year, but still doing 602 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,440 stuff in Israel. I would still speak, but I would 603 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,520 take people. I'd go to the South of people 604 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,920 maybe once or twice a month, not every single day, multiple times 605 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,040 a day. But you know, it was very hard. 606 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,880 You know, people forget that after October 7th, OK, UK war 607 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,240 with Iran, one war with Iran, 2, fighting with Hezbollah, 608 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:19,760 fighting with the Houthis, fighting with who knows what 609 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,040 other terrorists, you know, PIJ, Muslim Brotherhood, what all 610 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,680 this stuff that we have to think about, Not even talking about 611 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,120 what Jews and Da Aspah have to deal with. 612 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,600 I'm talking just Nova survivors of people who survived. 613 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,560 They have to deal with all of those things, whatever issues 614 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,240 they had in life prior to October 7th, which they probably 615 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,640 still have to deal with after. Now they might also have to deal 616 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,000 with finding a new job because they can't go back to their old 617 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:43,960 job. And it's just like everything 618 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,640 is, is, you know, it's really compounding and it's really, you 619 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:49,200 know, it's not talked about a lot. 620 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,280 And you know, there was a point where I was doing really bad. 621 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:55,680 You know, it was right after my first speaking tour super early. 622 00:32:55,680 --> 00:33:01,440 So like N2025N December, like end of December 2025, I mean 623 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,840 maybe January. And I was doing horrible. 624 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,800 I was going to a party twice a week like every. 625 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,880 Weekend, two different parties from one to the other. 626 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,160 I would stay up all night. You know, I'd come back home 627 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:14,960 from these parties at like 7:00 AM. 628 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,920 You know, I was doing ecstasy and MDMA as like a form of 629 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:20,960 avoidance. I don't now because they're 630 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,200 terrible for you, but I was doing it, you know, multiple 631 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,760 times a month and it's not healthy. 632 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:28,360 It's terrible. It kills your serotonin. 633 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:30,920 And it was, you know, as a form of avoidance. 634 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,560 Again, I was still seeing therapy, but I was like, not 635 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,520 taking it as seriously. I was feeling really bad about 636 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:39,360 myself. I was like, you know, having a 637 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,240 hard time financially. And many other people are. 638 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,080 And, you know, it was very overwhelming. 639 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:49,720 And then I'm like, OK, give myself a reality. 640 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:50,800 Check. I'm like, OK, I got to. 641 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:52,440 Stop this. So I stopped going to parties as 642 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:56,400 much and stopped with all the drugs and the substances and 643 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:00,680 like, just focused on a bit more of normal stuff and a bit more 644 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,160 boring things, you know, more of my photography, more time in the 645 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,920 beach, less time in parties, that sort of thing. 646 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:12,600 And then I noticed, you know, as time went on, I need to do 647 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,800 something to help because there's like all these people 648 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,199 helping and all this money being thrown around, and the only help 649 00:34:18,199 --> 00:34:21,679 that's really provided to Nova survivors is like superficial 650 00:34:21,679 --> 00:34:25,000 nonsense. I want you to talk about the 651 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,280 reality for these survivors on the ground in Israel and the 652 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,679 lack of support they received today and how we in the diaspora 653 00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:35,480 can support. Because I understand that aside 654 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,600 from the fact that hundreds of people, thousands of people have 655 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,679 been displaced. But in the survivor community, 656 00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:43,560 even there are people living off of, you know, government aid, 657 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,239 and that's not enough. It's very different from the 658 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,440 people who are in the kibbutz. There's no survivors all over 659 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,320 the world, in Georgia, in Europe, in Los Angeles, in New 660 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,199 York and all over. It's not just in Israel 661 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:57,080 specifically, because it wasn't just a party for Israel. 662 00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:00,800 The people who are not Israeli with Israeli citizenship, I have 663 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,320 no idea what they get. I don't think they get anything 664 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,400 from the Israeli government. Maybe that's changed. 665 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:07,880 Maybe there's a lawsuit that's changed things. 666 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:12,080 But the last time I heard, which was like a year ago, they get 667 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:13,760 like squat from the Israeli government. 668 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,600 It's just because they don't have Israeli citizenship. 669 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,520 They're not in the system. They don't live in Israel. 670 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,520 So it's like, how do you find that balance? 671 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,160 You know, it's like, it's very complicated situation. 672 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:27,400 But speaking for no survivors in Israel, again, they all don't. 673 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,400 Live in the same place. Not everybody has the same 674 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,000 trauma, you know. Even 5 people in the same group 675 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:38,080 of friends in the same car have varying levels of PTSD and 676 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:43,360 mental issues and a varying degree of strength in which they 677 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:46,760 can handle these issues. And again, everyone else has 678 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:49,000 their own issues on top of everything. 679 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,080 Whatever you dealt with prior to Nova didn't simply go away 680 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,760 because October 7th happened. So if you were in between 681 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,120 apartments before October 7th happened, well, you're still in 682 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,480 between apartments and now you have PTSD, you know, So a lot of 683 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,760 the resources that exist for Nova survivors are a little 684 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,200 superficial. Here's a field trip in the 685 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,560 Jeeps, you know, here's a surfing class. 686 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:15,760 Here's a party with some piece pizza and pasta and you know. 687 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,640 Band-Aid solutions. You know there are 4000 tickets 688 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:22,000 that were sold. To the Nova. 689 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,600 I think the number of dead is at like. 412 Which? 690 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,160 Includes suicides. Like it's updated. 691 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:33,600 Everybody who goes to these parties, movies, music 692 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,880 festivals, whatever. Not everybody shows up at the 693 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,240 same time. Not everyone leaves at the same 694 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:40,440 time. Some people just don't go. 695 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:42,640 I have friends. Who have tickets? 696 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,360 Who are in their name. They have AQR code and 697 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:47,080 everything associated with their ID number. 698 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,120 They never went. So there's also tickets out 699 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:54,120 there floating around that are in the hands of people who 700 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:58,600 weren't physically there and might also say they were there. 701 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,880 And there's no way to really tell these. 702 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:04,840 Things there's no really to tell these things because any most of 703 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,880 the supports that are available to Nova survivors. 704 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:11,040 The only proof they ask of us is were you there? 705 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,960 Do you have a ticket? Thankfully I have like so many 706 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:15,640 photos of myself there and. From. 707 00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:17,840 People there, so I don't have. Issues proving me or my friends 708 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:20,200 were there. But I know Photoshop, I know how 709 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,560 to use AII can make a fake ticket I. 710 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,680 Didn't even think that that was possible. 711 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,400 And again and again. If you are in Israel, you're 712 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,800 Nova survivor. Unless you live in like the 713 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,560 middle of the country, you don't have as much. 714 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:35,720 Access to the resources that are available. 715 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,480 Like there's people from a lot. Way in the South near Egypt, and 716 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:42,960 there's people from the Golan, way in the north near Lebanon, 717 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,800 and there's people who live near Judea and Samaria, you know, 718 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,280 near the West Bank. And there's people who live in 719 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:50,600 who knows what other remote communities. 720 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,120 Like I have a friend. Who survived the Nova? 721 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,840 He was shot in the head. He survived. 722 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,800 He was in his Jeep escaping with my other friend Dora, who's one 723 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:01,880 of the first people I photographed. 724 00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:05,800 And they're escaping and they're driving off road being chased by 725 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,840 Hamas terrorists on motorbikes. And one of them gets a bullet 726 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:14,000 off into their vehicle, hits him in the head, like superficial 727 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,560 wound in the back of the head, but it he got hit and he's 728 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:19,320 bleeding all over the car. He survives. 729 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,840 Then fights in Gaza who knows how many hundreds of days. 730 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,880 So served in Millim post Nova post being shot in the head by 731 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,520 Hamas terrorists, post his friend being kidnapped and 732 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:34,480 murdered by Hamas, a post losing who knows how many friends in 733 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,040 the Nova. But because he lives in the 734 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:41,200 South and doesn't have a car or a way to get to the center 735 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,760 reliably, well, he doesn't get much help with anything from 736 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:47,280 anyone because he can't access these resources. 737 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:51,080 And he's not the only one. He's lucky that he has his arms 738 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,760 and legs fully functioning, You know, he's lucky that he wasn't 739 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,080 hurt more. You know, there's people who 740 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,040 can't leave the house. Because they're just 741 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:02,120 psychologically it's. Too much, you know, I, I know 742 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,480 someone who they don't leave their neighborhood in 743 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,440 Florentine. She's like, yeah, this four 744 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,720 block area. I don't feel safe if I leave 745 00:39:08,720 --> 00:39:11,440 this area and I can't. And it's hard. 746 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,400 You know, there's if you, my friend was shot in the head. 747 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,880 He was like a massage therapist. His job is to make people feel 748 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:19,920 good. And I was his primary source of 749 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:24,440 income. And now he doesn't feel good or 750 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:29,360 at a level in which he's, you know, and so he can't go back to 751 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:33,400 his previous job because how are you supposed to make others feel 752 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:34,960 good about themselves when you have? 753 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,080 All this bad. Energy in your body and you're 754 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,960 not doing well yourself. You know it doesn't work and 755 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,600 there's no resources to help people shift into a career that 756 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:48,160 has PTSD symptoms in mind. They'll say, OK, well here we'll 757 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:50,120 help you here's a career fair and then you look at like the 758 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:51,200 jobs available in the career fair. 759 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,400 It's like working in a hotel, working in a in a restaurant. 760 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,160 You know, these are like, not jobs that are appropriate for 761 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,280 somebody who might have anxiety. Chaotic environment. 762 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,040 Being in a really intense environment, yeah. 763 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:06,120 You know, I know a lot of people who stop going to parties 764 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,920 entirely. You know, I don't go to parties 765 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,080 anymore. Like, has to be really specific, 766 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,320 like a wedding or a birthday party or something where it's 767 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:17,440 like, I can't avoid going. And even then I tell people 768 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,320 like, OK, I'm going to come, but, you know, probably going to 769 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,880 step out half an hour hour into it and just, you know, take an 770 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,920 hour to breathe outside. And that's OK. 771 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:31,480 But there is like a spectrum of. How people are. 772 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,400 Where do you think the diaspora community can donate or support 773 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,320 so that survivors have the resources they need? 774 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,600 My number one suggestion. Everywhere I go for like the 775 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:47,080 last two plus years is safe Heart SAFEHEART safe. 776 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:48,320 Heart, I don't work for them. They don't work. 777 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,280 They are amazing. They had a therapist for me 778 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,640 before I was recognized by the government as a victim of 779 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,040 terror. They don't hire therapists. 780 00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,120 They're not a mental health company. 781 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:03,280 They connect Nova survivors with the right therapist for them. 782 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:06,000 And if you receive a therapist through Safe Heart, you also get 783 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:07,640 access to the psychiatrist for free. 784 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,680 So you don't have to pay 700 or 1000 shekels out of pocket for 785 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:14,680 psychiatry. And so Safe Heart Alone provides 786 00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:18,360 over 1000 Nova survivors with mental health care, which is 787 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:20,800 insane. And I noticed that nobody 788 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:22,720 outside of Israel knows they exist. 789 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,720 So safe heart. Is my number one suggestion for 790 00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:28,200 people who want to, you know, put their money towards a non 791 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,880 profit that will actually help Nova survivors in a meaningful 792 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,120 way. The other is Selah, Selah. 793 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:36,840 They help more with things like, you know, if you can't pay for 794 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,280 groceries, can't cover your rent, you know, having trouble 795 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,880 supporting your means, they'll find you maybe an occupational 796 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:43,960 therapist, really meaningful support. 797 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,320 And then also it's not a non. Profit. 798 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:49,680 They're a for profit company, but ESIC which is. 799 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:57,040 A company in which I met the founder in December 2025 and I 800 00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,320 learned that all ESIC does is if you're a small business in 801 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:05,080 Israel and you are struggling and you are having an issue 802 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,760 getting your product into homes and getting people to buy your 803 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:11,960 product, ESIC will work with you to get your goods outside of the 804 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,640 country. And so I met Andrew, who's the 805 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:18,000 founder, and I'm like, let's help Nova survivors. 806 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,120 Let's help them financially doing something they love as a 807 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:23,920 way to sort of build a routine which helps their mental health 808 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,960 and also have a little bit of financial stability doing 809 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,440 something they care about. And so he and I, we curated a 810 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:34,760 collection of art by, I think it's 10 Nova survivors right 811 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,320 now. Each one has like 2 to three 812 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:37,880 pieces which are in the collection. 813 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,240 It's, you know, mezuzahs, it's handbags, it's, you know, photo 814 00:42:42,240 --> 00:42:47,040 prints, art prints, graphic design, oil painting, flower 815 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:52,080 art, really crazy, amazing art and everything goes to them. 816 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:57,280 So ESIC will buy from bulk. They make the sales upfront and 817 00:42:57,280 --> 00:42:59,960 the sales that ESIC makes after goes to cover the cost of 818 00:42:59,960 --> 00:43:03,920 operation, but also purchasing more art from these artists at a 819 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,520 later time. And so this is a way that they 820 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,360 will have a reliable income doing art, doing something that 821 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,960 they're really passionate about. And it's a way for people that I 822 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,240 ask for who maybe don't know where to donate or don't want to 823 00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:18,320 donate to also get something back. 824 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,080 You know, it's because many people don't want to receive a 825 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:22,520 handout. And this isn't a handout. 826 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,920 This is, you know, well you said something yesterday which is 827 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:27,920 really which I liked. It was. 828 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:32,600 It preserves dignity for the P of the survivors who. 829 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:34,960 Are. Sharing their craft with you 830 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,480 rather than feeling. And you see them as people, you 831 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:41,360 know, you see the the human behind the the Nova survivor. 832 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:43,280 Because when people refer to us, they're like, oh, this is shy. 833 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:45,080 He's a Nova survivor who is from Canada. 834 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:49,080 I'm like, no, I'm shy, who's a photographer from Canada who 835 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,840 also survived the Nova. That's how I tell people to 836 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:56,200 introduce me. So Esik is an amazing company, 837 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:02,640 Safeheart, an amazing nonprofit, Sella Natal, the Trauma and 838 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:05,240 Resilience Center. Amazing, amazing. 839 00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:08,920 And yeah, like Safe Art has helped me with this project that 840 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,040 I'm working on, which I want to mention in passing. 841 00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:15,040 It's the opposite of what people might have seen in the Nova 842 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:17,640 exhibition. So in the Nova exhibition, you 843 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:22,760 have at the very end, 400 plus images of people who died as a 844 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,080 way to remember them and and tell their stories. 845 00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,240 And I looked at that and I thought, this is amazing, but we 846 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:29,640 should also talk about the looming. 847 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:35,360 And so I am using my abilities as a photographer to do this 848 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,280 thing, which I called Beyond the Supernova because beyond meaning 849 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,360 after, because I want to talk about more than just October 7th 850 00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:43,920 with this. And I have the goal of 851 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,800 photographing as many Nova survivors as possible who want 852 00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:48,480 to participate. Not everyone wants to and that's 853 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:51,840 OK. But even if I get 100 or 200 or 854 00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,480 whatever, I'm happy. Right now I have about 32 855 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,280 portraits done. Safeheart help me with producing 856 00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,840 these back in Israel before I I broke my leg. 857 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:04,760 And my goal is to have an exhibition in Canada, in the US, 858 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:08,040 in Israel and show these portraits of people who are 859 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,760 still alive, who are still out there, who are doing their best 860 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,000 post October 7th post surviving the Nova. 861 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:19,920 And sort of use that as a way of as a tool of humanization and to 862 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,320 sort of bring dialogue back to, you know, how can we help the 863 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:27,160 people who are still here, who are still have to deal with, you 864 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:30,800 know, living post October 7th? Because, you know, not everybody 865 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:34,240 was a hostage who is going to get support from the government 866 00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:38,680 for life, You know, and there is as time goes on, more and more 867 00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,080 people with PTSD and the system becomes more strained. 868 00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:46,120 And so, you know, we need help from the outside, from the 869 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,760 diaspora. And it's a terrible situation to 870 00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:52,360 be in, to have to, you know, ask the Jews in the diaspora to help 871 00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:54,600 us out because we're not getting it back home from the 872 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:56,520 government. It's very frustrating. 873 00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:00,240 What do you think has helped to heal just some parts? 874 00:46:00,240 --> 00:46:03,480 I know that healing is an ongoing process, but what sticks 875 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:08,320 out to you is helpful. Therapy and a healthy social 876 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:13,920 life and a routine and financial stability when I have it, when 877 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:16,160 it comes and goes. But, you know, when I'm there, 878 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,520 it's nice. Helps me in focusing on things 879 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,320 that matter, like my mental health, like, you know, looking 880 00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,240 for work and keeping busy. And when I'm missing one of 881 00:46:24,240 --> 00:46:27,280 those things, I immediately become, you know, doing not as 882 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,760 good. And it's the same for, you know, 883 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:33,120 many other people, again, just to varying degrees based on 884 00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,160 their personal situation. Yeah, their baseline. 885 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:40,320 Thank you so much for giving us a glimpse of your experience. 886 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:43,520 How can people connect with you and keep up with your work, 887 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:46,600 including your project? So for people who want to 888 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,560 contact me or reach out or ask me a question or have a 889 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,640 conversation or have me speak in their community or whatever, for 890 00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:55,880 any reason, they can reach me on Instagram, which is just my 891 00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:59,160 first and last name. Shy Klein or my website 892 00:46:59,240 --> 00:47:09,560 whichisjustmyfirstandlastnameshykleinormyemailwhichisjustshyklein@yahoo.ca and they can just yeah, it's 893 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:11,440 Canada. I made it when I was like 12 894 00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:13,240 years old. And on my website and my 895 00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:14,960 Instagram, I have ways for people to reach me. 896 00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:16,080 Now. I got my phone number, I got my 897 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:19,760 e-mail, and on my website you can click on Beyond the 898 00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,000 Supernova, which is in the menu somewhere. 899 00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:25,160 And it will take you to a page where you can see the photos 900 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:26,920 that I've done so far and read about it. 901 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,800 And there's a GoFundMe link which people can share if they 902 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:32,680 would like to, but it's not necessary to donate to. 903 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:37,160 And they can also just look at the photos I took on October 7th 904 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:41,040 and read my full testimony there because I have everything in 905 00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:44,040 chronological order. So the first photo as the first 906 00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:46,920 photo, the last photo is the last photo, and then like 53 907 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:48,480 minutes of. Is a shaky. 908 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:53,320 Video that I filmed on the day of so people can see October 7th 909 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:56,560 from my own perspective. That's amazing. 910 00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:58,560 And I have one final question for you. 911 00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:00,560 It's one that I ask every guest who would you? 912 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,680 Like to nominate for people that you wanna know? 913 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:06,800 I definitely think it should be Andrew Keane, and he can talk 914 00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,720 about one of his million flights. 915 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,200 Who knows where in the world he can talk about ESIC. 916 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:15,040 He can talk about being the first person to hit 2 million 917 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:17,760 miles with Delta Airlines or something else crazy like that. 918 00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:20,240 Amazing. Thank you for this wonderful 919 00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:22,280 nomination. I would be delighted to speak to 920 00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:25,800 Andrew. Such a worthy Co contestant. 921 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:29,200 He's great in the Z3 contest. It was really a privilege. 922 00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,000 And you can talk. About the Z3 awards, yeah, for 923 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:32,480 sure. Yeah, it was brutal. 924 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:34,920 The voting process was brutal. The people listening in, they 925 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:38,200 know because they voted. Thank you so much for this and 926 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:41,320 truly cannot wait to see what's next for you. 927 00:48:41,720 --> 00:48:46,560 You are so strong and incredible and this is a new era and it's 928 00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:48,720 going to be amazing. Right now I'm, I'm going to 929 00:48:48,720 --> 00:48:54,200 Israel in early May and I'm just going to take time to actually 930 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,760 be present in one country and I, you know, properly settle in 931 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:01,280 because, you know, since October 7th, I had just made Aliyah, 932 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:05,080 went into doing this thing, speaking all these communities. 933 00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:08,400 And I, I did the math. I counted the days in my 934 00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:11,760 calendar and my Google Maps, like how it tracks you between 935 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:16,440 June 15th, 2023 and today. And I have been outside of 936 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:22,440 Israel in just abroad for a near equal amount of time as I have 937 00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:25,840 been present living in Israel. Which is crazy. 938 00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:29,320 Yeah, good luck, Shai. Thank you. 939 00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,760 This has been amazing. If you've enjoyed this podcast, 940 00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:34,760 please go ahead and rate US five stars. 941 00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:37,400 Be the first to hear our episodes by subscribing to 942 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:39,160 People. Do you want to know wherever you 943 00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:41,360 get your podcasts And for exclusive? 944 00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,000 Content Follow us on. Instagram at People do you want 945 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:44,360 to know?