Hezzi Schuster has returned to the village after a sabbatical, and he has returned to the position of director of the Pluralistic Spiritual Community Center after three years.
Schuster says he thought long and hard before accepting the position during this terrible war, when it feels wrong to enjoy events or to celebrate, or even to maintain a Palestinian-Israeli cultural institution. He, himself, rarely goes out to enjoy the concerts or films that he loves, in the current situation.
But after talking to people, he has realized the need for a meeting place for culture, discussion and shared experience, even during wartime. “We need to meet with people who are close to us…to gather, to talk, to experience things together,” writes Schuster.
Among other things, he was reminded that the PSCC can be a place to give voice to those whose voices are silenced, to bring serious quality content to a community that shares a common worldview, and to offer art as a solace to those whose spirit is wounded by the violence around them.
He takes over an institution that has not been active in recent months, at least in its function as a Palestinian-Israeli cultural center. The building’s other role, as a space for activities, continued during the gap period, and was rented out to groups, yoga classes, meditation sessions seminars, etc. This was carried out by Faten Abu Ghosh, and she continues to oversee this side of the PSCC activities. Faten is also responsible for the maintenance of the building. All in all, these activities bring people into the PSCC in the spirit of peace, tolerance and inclusion.
Hezzi is now working on a plan for 2025 that will include film screening together with discussion with the directors, book launches, musical performance, small plays and children’s performances, community activities and holidays. Once a cease-fire has been achieved, he is hoping to return to a full schedule of fun and interesting events, as well as deep, thoughtful ones. Further plans include renovating the PSCC, which needs repairs to before it can host groups properly, and advancing the Garden of Rescuers project so that visitors will be able to read or hear the stories of the rescuers in three languages.
A musical evening opens the renewed PSCC
The event held at the end of November was meant to be the opening event of the renewed PSCC and a celebration of Hezzi’s return after the three-year hiatus. Instead, the PSCC offering was a special concert. “In such a time,” he wrote, “we have no choice but to turn to the various fields of art for help and support.”
The concert was one of of Arabic music given by maestro pianist Nizar Alkatar and soprano Noor Darwish, who is a trained opera singer. Nizar Alkatar is from neighboring Lod and Noor Darwish recently moved to the village. During the concert, the two introduced the audience to different styles of classical Arabic music. French horn player Shahar Ziv was a special guest who joined them for a part of the performance. Omer Shuster was in charge of the lights and sound.
“This was a magical evening,” says Hezzi. “At the end, the audience was visibly moved to tears.”
