Sharon and Doron Segev - Beeri
Sharon is the first participant we met for the project. We meet her at the door of her burnt house in Beeri. She opens to us both the door to her heart as well to her house. Sharon was born and raised in Kibbutz Hatzerim, and was a teacher for many years. Doron was born in Beeri, a hydrotherapy therapist who conducts breathing workshops.
Sharon loves benches and had several of them in her house. The central bench in the house was placed in the kitchen’s dining area and was the center of the house, on which they sat, talking about the events of the day. Sharon was inspired to place the bench in the kitchen by her next-door neighbor, Yonat, who was murdered on that horrific Sabbath.
On the morning of October 7, the couple and their three children were in the MAMAD (safe room) in their home located in the Hakerem neighborhood in Beeri, a neighborhood that was severely damaged that morning. The terrorists broke into their home, smashed objects and ornaments and finally set the house on fire.
The family stayed in the MAMAD (safe room) for long hours, and there were moments when they began to say goodbye to each other. In the afternoon, after the MAMAD (safe room) filled with smoke and it was difficult to breathe, their eldest son, Maayan, decided to jump out of the MAMAD (safe room) window and hide in a nearby bush. The window that remained slightly open left a little air for the rest of the family that was saved thanks to him.
They spent hours apart from their son without knowing what happened to him.
When IDF soldiers finally arrived to rescue the family, Maayan came out of the bushes and asked to save his family even though he did not know if they survived.
Luckily, the whole family was rescued, reunited and evacuated from the kibbutz without any injury.
Sharon and Doron did not plan to renew any of the remaining objects from their home, they wanted to turn over a new leaf, a fresh start. However, taking part in the project made them return to their destroyed home and choose to renovate the burned bench. They wished to breathe new life into it and with the help of Maya the artist, it is now being renovated in her studio in Beit Berl.