Adi Weiss and Bar Karbona are not just two professional, talented women—they are also mothers and survivors of the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri. Their story, which began in tragedy, has evolved into an inspiring journey of recovery and rebuilding—in every sense of the word.
On the morning of October 7, during Simchat Torah and the kibbutz’s communal celebration, Adi, 39, and Bar, 34, woke up to a barrage of rockets and sirens. “We realized something very unusual was happening,” recalls Bar, who took shelter in the safe room with her partner, Tom, and their infant son, Albi, who had not yet turned one. At the same time, Adi also took refuge in her safe room with her three children, while her partner, Yuval, rushed out to fight the terrorists as part of the Kibbutz's auxiliary squad.
For hours, both women were trapped in their safe rooms without food, water, or electricity, while Hamas terrorists tried to break down their doors. Nearby homes burned, and the sounds of automatic gunfire, explosions, and shouting in Arabic surrounded them. By the end of that horrific day, they were rescued but had suffered devastating losses: Bar’s mother-in-law, Galit Karbona, and Adi’s father-in-law and brother-in-law, Mati and Amir Weiss, were brutally murdered. “When I realized they had been killed,” Adi recounts, “I tried not to let the kids sense it. I played a game with them called ‘Kva Kva De La Huma’ and told them that Grandpa and Grandma’s batteries had run out.”
That night, as the two women fled and walked through the ruins of the kibbutz, they already understood: “We realized we had nowhere to go back to.” Along with the remaining kibbutz members who had not been murdered or kidnapped, they were evacuated to the Dead Sea. “Within a week, it became clear to us that we had no home and that we needed to find a temporary place to live for ourselves and our community,” says Adi. “We didn’t yet know who had been kidnapped or killed, and neither of us had even buried our loved ones, but we understood we had to act,” Bar adds.
Bar, an architect by trade, and Adi, a project manager in the planning field, had not been friends and barely knew each other. At the hotel, they connected in what they describe as a “shared destiny,” joining forces for one mission: finding a new home for their community. Today, after successfully completing the project (led by Yasky Architects) and seeing the residents move into their new homes, they share their story and that of their new living space.
Rebuilding Be'eri
(Video: Tkumah Directorate)
“We didn’t really know each other before,” says Bar, “but it was through the planning process that we connected. I felt obligated to the kibbutz and my community, based on all the knowledge I had gained.” Adi adds, “It gave both of us a reason to get up in the morning and cope. It became our psychological therapy. We connected from the very first moment, spending 18 hours a day together.”
The two explain: “We used every connection we had and called every relevant person: the Southern District Planner, the head of the Planning Administration, representatives from the Israel Land Authority, and officials from the Ministry of Construction and Housing. We called everyone and said, ‘You must help us find a place to live.’”
After initiating rounds of meetings with various officials, they discovered that Kibbutz Hatzerim, near Be’er Sheva, had already begun work on a new neighborhood. Adi recalls, “From that moment, without planning or intending to, we found ourselves immersed in the project of our lives. All the experience we had gained and the connections we had made led us to this point—to plan our ‘temporary kibbutz’ in Hatzerim and to begin the restoration of our beloved and beautiful Be’eri, which had been completely destroyed.”
Beyond their lobbying efforts, the two actively dove into the project’s plans and began influencing the neighborhood’s design to meet the needs of Be’eri’s residents. They transformed their hotel room at the Dead Sea into an office, opened their laptops, spread out maps of the area, and threw themselves into the task of a lifetime.
“We worked on improving the homes, the living conditions, and the neighborhood, maximizing public buildings and quality of life,” they explain. “We kept the community updated on the project’s progress and visited the site regularly to ensure everything was moving according to plan. There were many delays in the project, and we had to repeatedly go back to the members and explain why they occurred.”
Adi and Bar insisted on the construction of a dental clinic, like the one that had existed in their kibbutz, where five people were murdered. The original clinic is slated for demolition soon. They also influenced the size of the homes, their interior design, outdoor spaces, additional lawns, and even planned a communal garden. “We wanted to feel as at home as possible,” Adi explains, “and to have a place for gatherings, events, or even just to have coffee together.” Bar adds, “We managed to create a sense of home here. After a year in a hotel, we were waiting for this moment. This is what we were looking for. It’s not Be’eri, true, but it’s the space we envisioned to help us move forward from an emotional standpoint.”
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Given their professional experience, the two knew that such processes don’t happen overnight. From the planning stage to occupancy, there are many obstacles to traverse. “These are processes that typically take years,” Bar explains, “sometimes even a decade. Here, everything had to happen as quickly as possible. Every day of delay was another day in a hotel.”
For them, this is not just another project—it is, quite literally, the “project of their lives.” It includes 287 homes in five different sizes, six kindergartens, four educational institutions, a dining hall, offices, a medical clinic, a dental clinic, a clothing warehouse, a local shop, a playground, and a community garden. The two understood that this wasn’t just planning for strangers but for their own friends and community. “That was the most complex part—our deep personal involvement.”
Adi shares, “Slowly but surely, a neighborhood started to take shape, and suddenly, our kids were riding bikes on the sidewalks again, and families were having picnics on the grass. It’s moving to the point of tears.” They conclude, “Now that the neighborhood has stabilized and all the members have moved into their homes, it’s time to start working on rebuilding Be’eri. The real recovery can only begin once all the hostages have come home.”