"The little things go on with me": the brothers who turned bereavement into a work of art

Methanel Buharis lost his brothers Avinoam and Jonathan.

Oren Kamil was killed in Lebanon in 1987, leaving behind a colleague and opponent, who had difficulty coping with the loss.

Both, along with other bereaved brothers, are participating in the "Our Brothers Create Life" exhibition, which opened this week ahead of Memorial Day

Yael Friedson

03/05/2022

Tuesday, 03 May 2022, 13:05 Updated: 13:10

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In the video: on the eve of Memorial Day 5724 - a salute ceremony for the fallen and the laying of flags on their graves (Photo: Contact)

Piano keys, rabbit doll, cheesecake, football, cyclamen.

The paper cutouts that hang on the wall look like pictures of a nursery.

Something in this innocence is felt when Mathanel Buharis speaks of the two brothers who understood, Avinoam and Jonathan.

"There is a year and a half difference between them, they are very different from each other," he shared.

"Avinoam is always out of the house, unable to sit or move, loves parties and skydiving, in front of the closed and introverted Jonathan, who sits at home, plays the piano and reads books."

As part of the "Our Brothers Create Life" project, he met the artist Honeysuckle Goldberger, and turned his memories of the two into works of art.

The exhibition, curated by Bishmat Hazan, features 15 bereaved brothers and sisters, who shared with 15 artists their memories of the fallen brothers, and the artists adapted them into works displayed by Yad Ben Zvi in ​​Jerusalem.

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"The little things go on with me."

The work of Amit Kamil (Photo: Walla !, Yael Friedson)

The exhibition opened on Avinoam Buharis' thirtieth birthday, almost a year since his death.

Avinoam participated in Operation Eitan and served as the tank driver of the company's deputy commander.

In one of the incidents he heard about a missile being fired at them and immediately, even before receiving an order, he drove the tank away and thus managed to dodge the missile and save the entire crew.

For this he received a medal of excellence from the battalion commander.

After the operation he contracted ALS.

At the end of five years of struggle, he was recognized as an IDF invalid and on April 22 this year, he passed away at night with his family members by his side. Jonathan committed suicide five years ago.

Sigalit Naim and Adiel Ariel, bereaved brothers who participated in the exhibition (Photo: official website, Dor Pazuelo)

"The hardest thing for me is to see everyday life."

Methanel Buharis (Photo courtesy of the family)

In the exhibition, Buharis and Goldberg sought to depict the two brothers who were complete opposites, but one family.

"Avinoam would draw a lot," he said.

"He had a hard time at the end, he had software on his cell phone that you could draw with your eyes and so he went on. Jonathan was a high-level musician, playing the piano, listening to Bach, Hava Alberstein. They both loved art, but in a completely different way. There were three or four months they sang "Together in the army, they had a period with each other on the line in the Jericho area. When they said they were brothers, no one believed them until mother arrived. Externally Avinoam was seen abducted by Yemen, and Jonathan was blond with blue eyes.

The exhibition has many home-made images, such as the Popushido cookies that Avinoam loved, or his glasses, which, according to Methanel, are the most difficult memory.

"It's hardest for me to see everyday life," he shared.

"Not the ID card, not the certificate, not the uniform.

The memory is pure, as boys.

That's what keeps me going, the little things and not the signs of heroism. "

"Our brothers create life."

Yariv Oren and Amit (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

Ita Munitz, a bereaved sister who participated in the exhibition (Photo: Official Website, Dor Pazuelo)

Amit Kamil stood next to the triptych created by Noa Kellner and explained to the critics, with an astonishing smile, about the work, which describes his two brothers who passed away, Oren and Yariv.

He testifies that even for him it is not obvious.

"I stand here for two hours and I tell people about us at the height of naturalness. Two or three years ago I was unable to speak," he admitted.

A colleague who defeated his older brother Oren in 1987, in a battle in Lebanon.

During a chase at the foot of Mount Hermon, a unit of the unit encountered terrorists.

Oren was killed by a bullet while trying to rescue his injured commander.

He is survived by two parents and a brother, a colleague and a rival.

In part of the piece, a child is seen with a telephone cord wrapped around him.

"The day Oren was killed, an opponent called friends and family to tell them, and it's a trauma that stayed with him for many years," Amit said.

In 2005 Yariv committed suicide and left Amit alone, until his parents adopted a foster child.

"When I lost an opponent everything was empty."

Amit Kamil (Photo: Official Website, Dor Pazuelo)

"I lost the mentor, the torch."

Baruch with Amit Kamil the baby, on the right Oren and on the left Yariv (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

"The first encounter of the show was on Oren's birthday, he had to be 54. Oren was 19 years old killed, I was 15. I lost the mentor, the torch. He's the older brother, he's the authority," he shared.

"Dad was an army man, he was barely present, he would come once in two, me and the opponent had Oren. When I lost the opponent everything was empty."

For years, Kamil felt lonely, until he came to the "Our Brothers - For Brothers and Sisters in the Israeli Bereaved Family" organization, which helped him deal with the double trauma.

"These connections in the association, the places where you feel you can tell the story, first to myself and then out," he said.

"Until I knew the siblings, if someone from the outside would ask me how many siblings you have I would suffocate. Today I answer lightly, 'there were three of us', today I am in a situation where I talk to my mother a whole conversation without crying."

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