Children House

Children’s House - Rami Ater
The concept of “home” in Israeli culture is saturated with references to both Zionism and Judaism: from the national home, to the Temple, to the new settlement - Ahuzat Bayit - and the kibbutz children’s house.
The children’s house in the kibbutz reflected an ideological socialist worldview held by its members, who believed in collective education. Over the years, the kibbutz institution was privatized, and it seemed that the collective spirit had reached its end. The disintegration of the kibbutz occurred both internally and externally - children moved from communal sleeping arrangements to sleeping within the family home.
On October 7th, the kibbutzim of the Gaza border region suffered a murderous assault that sought to annihilate them. Kibbutz homes were riddled with bullets, desecrated, burned, and looted. The desecration was not only physical but also spiritual, leaving deep scars on body and soul.
The kibbutz may have been privatized in practice, yet not in its values or its communal essence. The kibbutz, its community, and its mutual responsibility have once again taken a central place in Israeli discourse, now viewed with renewed awe and respect - especially in the wake of October 7th.
The Iron House sculpture embodies the tension between the strength of the community and the attempt to destroy it by Hamas. The work with iron - a material that conveys power and mastery - evokes a sense of stability that was deeply shaken after October 7th.
The sculpture Children’s House, the first created by Ater after 7.10, is small and intimate; it invites one to bend down, to peek - into the inner home.
Erik Erikson wrote: “The home is the place where we create the memory of our childhood.”
The sculpture Children’s House appears wounded, blackened, perhaps burnt - echoing the breached walls of the safe room (mamad) yet still standing. It forever holds within it the memories of the family who once lived there.
The bullet holes wound and scar the house’s walls - yet also allow rays of light to pass through.
The Children’s House remains a hollow, deserted structure carrying within it the loss of the lives once lived there.
It is present yet absent - a mute remnant and testimony to the loss of home, to its missing or abducted inhabitants.
[Michal Hasson]