PTS

EXHIBITION

SPECIAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2022 | NY

This art exhibition about Israeli soldiers suffering from PTS. Created to generate awarenes and lobby parliament for reform in legal rights for our soldiers.

Imri Biton

Photographed with Erel Margalit

"Served as a combat soldier in the Nahal Brigade. Actor in successful series, including “Ha’ir Hatovah”, “Hamidrashah”, and the “Sha’at Ne’ilah” series which helped him cope with post-trauma from the army. “I finished the Second Lebanon War with an outstanding regiment award, but also with traumas and scars which I still grapple with. I have scars which I bear and have to deal with, but I would do it a thousand times again. I have a guide dog (Chance) and he is one of the best things that happened to me in recent years, he makes me fulfilled and gives me so much love. He is specifically trained for my symptoms: panic attacks, shortness of breath, waking up at night, flashbacks, and if I have an attack he immediately responds. Aside from that he makes me and everyone around me laugh. I would do it all another thousand times, because the values, the strength, the confidence, the education which I received during my service, are an inseparable part of who I am today.” Imri currently works to raise awareness for everything to do with post-trauma diagnosis. "

Photo: Moses Pini Siluk

Moran Har-Even

Photographed with Lee Naim

" I was educated with the values of loving the Land and giving to the community. Bursting with motivation I enlisted in a pilots’ course, to serve as a combat soldier. During the course, I was injured in a training accident. I felt from high up and irreversibly shattered both my ankles Since then I need crutches to get anywhere (or a wheelchair on bad days) and also suffer from a secondary injury to my pelvis. For me, it is sometimes difficult for people to understand the significance of an injury on the cusp between girlhood and becoming a young woman. At the age of 19.5, I had to imagine my life with a disability, and rebuild them. I now understand that rehabilitation – all kinds, physical, emotional, occupational, and social – will be for my entire life. My rehabilitation process began with relearning how to walk and how to use my hands, by way of studying biotechnology – the brain, and the complex struggle to try and work with crutches in non-accessible labs, and continued with clinical-rehabilitative psychology studies. Today, I am a rehabilitative neuropsychologist after four years of internship, a diagnostician and researcher in the Israel Cancer Association, particularly for children with brain tumors, and also an advisor for medical students in the field of communication with patients."

Photo: Dor Malka

Nadav Yaish

Photographed with Doron Ben David

"He served as a combat soldier in a sensitive role in the Duvdevan Unit for around six years, 2010-2016. During his military service he was injured during military operations in the Qalandia area. Today: He lives in Tel Aviv, is a musician and composer, plays new and interesting oriental rock. He will soon release his second album. You can hear him on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, etc. “For someone who was in the unit for his permanent service, I took part in plenty of operations. Personally, I can tell you that it stays with us, for good or bad, and moreover, defines our lives. One of my goals for many years was to return from 100 to zero to civilian life."

Photo: Dor Malka

Nadav Greenberg

Photographed with Gilad Ardan

"Married to the amazing Nitzan, and father of the incredible Adam. “I served in the Yahalom Unit in the Samur Brigade. I was in the first official group and served in the Second Lebanon War and in Operation Protective Edge in the reserves. Today, am the chef of the Shmoneh restaurant in New York."

Photo: Dor Malka

Yair Shalev

Photographed with Boaz Konforty

"Battalion Commander of the 101st Battalion The time I spent in Lebanon shaped me and changed my life. I will always be grateful to have served my country during those days in Lebanon. However, the traumatic events I experienced still haunt me. I had to retrieve the body of a fallen Israeli officer who was killed in a clash behind enemy lines. In order to retrieve his body, we had to draw fire in our direction. I also carried the dead body of a Lebanese girl who was killed in a Hezbollah attack. These traumatic events and others like them are still with me in many situations and coping with them every day is not easy."" Yair says that every time he lifts his eldest daughter in his arms, he recalls carrying the dead Lebanese girl. Though the trauma happened in the past, it is still very much a part of his present."

Photo: Avishai Finkelstein

Dror Zicherman

Photographed with Ron Huldai

"I served as a soldier in the Nachshon Battalion, I was wounded on the fifth night of Chanukah, 2005. I was part of a patrol team that received warnings that terrorists were planning to carry out an attack at one of the holiday shows. Following the warning, we set up a temporary checkpoint at the exit from Tulkarm, and my commanders Uri and I stood at the checkpoint to check vehicles entering Israel from Tulkarm. During the inspection, a Palestinian taxi with 8 passengers arrived at the checkpoint. We checked the taxi passengers and took them all out to make sure that nobody was armed. One of the passengers in the taxi was wearing a leather jacket so we demanded that he take off his jacket and while removing it, he pressed a button and detonated a 30kg improvised explosive device. I was seriously injured all over my body, and I was evacuated from the scene in critical condition. I got to the hospital with almost no blood left in my body. They resuscitated me and gave me many blood infusions. In the end, they managed to save my life. After a year and a half, I finished the physical rehabilitation, but soon I discovered that I had rejoiced too quickly. A few years later, I started having symptoms of PTSD: panic attacks, depression, difficulty sleeping, pain all over my body, nightmares, and a lot of guilt that I couldn't control. I slowly experienced a mental breakdown because I couldn't cope with the emotional pain. For almost a decade of my life I was confined to the house because I didn't want to face life, I was already thinking about giving up and staying confined at home. Today I am a fitness coach, a lecturer, the owner of a studio, and especially a person who is dealing with himself and his trauma. I think PTSD has taught me a lot about myself, and I'm doing everything I can to raise awareness, to talk about it as much as possible, and most of all, to live."

Photo: Ronen Fadida

Shmuel Blai

Photographed with Avi Issacharoff

"I served in the IDF from 1998 to 2001. I spent many years afterwards struggling, without really knowing or understanding the reason for my pain. Only over the past few years through talking with my close friends and family I realized I needed therapy to provide me with the tools to return to living a tranquil and normal life with less pain and suffering. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for not giving up on me and helping me start living once again."

Photo: Avishai Finkelstein

Amichai Shur

Photographed with Hili Tropper

Amichai was a sniper in an elite IDF unit from 1998 to 2001, and participated in dozens of shooting events during his years of service. In his own words: "I was a sniper during battles in the Second Intifada. I went through a lot of field operations but I did not get the right mental care. I was treated only years later. Today I receive treatment from the IDF veterans’ office."

Photo: Moses Pini Siluk

Sam Goodrich

Photographed with Offer Shelah

Sam Goodrich. Served from 2001-2004 as a combat paratrooper. “I started an NPO, “Soul Talk” back in 2017, a decade after I finished my military service and began getting treatment. The goal was to raise awareness among soldiers and help them process traumatic combat events they had experienced. Our foundation operates proactively among veterans upon their release from military service. Many of these recently-released soldiers are currently on their 'post-service' trip, in India or South America. We also reach them within universities and colleges, or through social and regular media. I personally want to make sure that my friends get the right care they need."

Photo: Ronen Fadida

Or Eylon

Photographed with Raviv Kaner

Served from 2014-2017 as a combat medic in the Shimshon Battalion. "After my service I felt abandoned, I didn't know anything about PTSD and I was not ready for what I was about to face alone. I think that any person who goes through our kind of military service need to get some sort of treatment, not just be thrown into a void. I am doing my best to recover with the help of private foundations, and such a situation is unforgivable in a progressive society. I travel and tell my story, and put my message out there that this kind of injury can effect anyone, and we should deal with it together. Nobody should go through this complex experience without proper help. With community and support, we can treat this problem."

Photo: Ronen Fadida

Shai Kozlovski

Photographed with Netta Garti

Major in the IDF Battle Engineering Core Unit from 2000-2008 in both Gaza and the Samaria Brigade. "The distress once again fills my heart, which is already barely functioning, Nothing - is this my fate - Is my life over? Has the light faded? The blood in my heart has drained already and I use the little strength I have remaining to find the flower."

Photo: Eran Levi

Shiraz Greenbaum

Photographed with Moran Atias

"I served as a field medical instructor in the central command base in Jerusalem from 1996 to 1999. I think that the moment I self-diagnosed as being the second generation with PTSD was the defining moment of my life. My Dad is a war veteran who has been dealing with PTSD since his service, He suffered for 31 years before we could do anything for him. He was young back in 1973, and the Yom Kippur War changed the course of his life, but at home we did not talk about it. Because of the lack of treatment and care, our house was a place of constant pain, and for years I dealt with this all by myself. Today I am the founder of “Light The Home” which provides therapy support groups for kids growing up with a parent suffering from combat PTSD. I am also a founding member of the "Second generation of PTSD" forum for children requiring help and assistance."

Photo: Gilad Bar Shalev

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Thirty of Israel’s leading celebrities and government leaders were recruited to participate in an art exhibition to generate publicity about post-trauma (PTSD) wounded soldiers. The exhibition, created by Yaarit Shoshan, ﬁrst opened in October 2020 at the MUSA Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv and has since generated signiﬁcant publicity and impact. The goal of the exhibition is to continue to raise awareness and generate public pressure that will ultimately result in enough political pressure to pass legislation which ensures that all of Israel’s great defenders, our Israel’s soldiers, recieve the support and treatment they deserve following their military service – regardless of whether their injuries are physical, or mental. Yaarit had pictured Itzik Saidian in the original exhibition, well prior to his tragic self-immolation and hospitalization. It was important for Yaarit to present this exhibition again, to keep up the political pressure so that Israel’s parliament will pass meaningful reform and legislation to support soldiers suffering frLorem ipsumom PTSD. So, on May 22, 2022 Yaarit set up the art exhibition in the Tel Aviv Port, and it remained open to the public for three weeks – generating signiﬁcant media coverage on the local news stations (Channel 12) and in all major print publications, as well as throughout various social media platforms. In September 2022 the exhibition will be displayed in Israel's capital, Jerusalem, at the "Friends of Israel Museum". Along with the photographs of Israel's brave warriors Yaarit also included pictures of Israel’s leading celebrities, intellectuals, and artists. Our soldiers have risked everything for the freedom and security of our Jewish State of Israel. We owe it them, to their parents, to their siblings, and to their children to ﬁght for their rights to treatment of their PTSD, to help end their personal agony as they struggle with returning to civilian life following traumatic battleﬁeld experiences.

The Purpose

Dalit Poliva

Dalit Poliva, a leading Israelis high-tech entrepreneur, has over the past 18 years been involved in multiple productions and exhibits including “# With Merkel” which photographed 450 women in leadership roles with a print cutout of Chancellor Angela Merkel", "Let’s dance quietly and free" and the televised documentary series "Free People." Dalit works to leverage her vast network in the Israeli and international business communities to support causes near and dear to her heart.

Sivan Shoshan

Sivan manages "The Shlein Group" a family owned real estate development and construction company building residential housing primarily in Israel and in Tuscany, Italy since 2012.

Hadas Mouwes

Hadas served for 25 years in the IDF as a leader in the development of advanced systems.

In her last position as head of the integration branch in the Navy. Hadas currently works in leadership and management training.

Osnat Levy

Osnat Levy – has worked in design and management leadership for 15 years and currently leads management training seminars.

Miri Hayon

Miri Hayon, a public relations manager with over 20 years of experience as a spokeswoman and public relations advisor, has worked with many of Israel’s leading companies on branding and PR strategy.

Doron Rafael Toledano

Doron is a business consultant working with Israel based and international entrepreneurs, including those developing renewable energy and waste to energy projects.

Sun Shiner Zerach

Sun Shiner Zerach works with trauma victims. She teaches trauma victims to regain control through breathing and through movement. She is working to bridge the various divisions in Israeli society through social change and through personal growth in mind, body and soul.

Sharona Weinreb

(Lt.Col.) served 25 years in the IDF. Her last position was as head of a branch in the Military Intelligence Division. She currently practices law and mediation, and spend time as a volunteer in promotion of projects near and dear to her heart. She was instrumental in getting Legislation passed in Israel’s Knesset, “Lone Soldier Act” and represents the Lomi Battle with the Ministry of Defense as part of an association of the Magen Israeli partnership.

Ofer Yannay

Ofer Yannay is a philanthropist and the chairman, founder, and controlling shareholder of Nofar Energy, a rapidly growing company listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange which is engaged in the development and operation of clean energy production and storage facilities. It has operations in Israel, Europe, and the USA.

Yaarit Shoshan

Yarit Shoshan, founder of SOS, is the driving force behind this exhibition. Yaarit is a social activist who leverages her decades of experience in advertising and media to draw attention to some of the most difficult and pressing issues in Israel, and is working to create change for a better society. Founder of the advertising agency, THE BRAND HOUSE.

Amit Shabtai

Amit Shabtai is the Community manager & founder of the Facebook group Lohamim Bu'oarrim. A group of ex military soldiers with PTS influencing the media and the Knesset for the sake of creating change. Following the Itzik Saidan case, Amit accompanies and strengthens the issue of reform in front of the important factors.

The Team

PTS EXHIBITION

SPECIAL EDITION

NOVEMBER 17th 2022 | EDEN GALLERY | SOHO, NY

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PTS

EXHIBITION

SPECIAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2022 | NY

This art exhibition about Israeli soldiers suffering from PTS. Created to generate awarenes and lobby parliament for reform in legal rights for our soldiers.

Imri Biton

Moran Har-Even

Nadav Yaish

Nadav Greenberg

Yair Shalev

Dror Zicherman

Shmuel Blai

Amichai Shur

Sam Goodrich

Or Eylon

Shai Kozlovski

Shiraz Greenbaum

The Purpose

Dalit Poliva

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Sivan Shoshan

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Hadas Mouwes

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Osnat Levy

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Miri Hayon

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Doron Rafael Toledano

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Sun Shiner Zerach

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Sharona Weinreb

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Ofer Yannay

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Yaarit Shoshan

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Amit Shabtai

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The Team

PTS EXHIBITION