09/29/2026
Kibbutz Kissufim Business Manager Reflects on Life After Oct. 7
Eran Ben-Ari, business manager of Kibbutz Kissufim, thanks the Cleveland community. CJN Photo / Kateryna Kopylchak
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
by Kateryna Kopylchak
Eran Ben-Ari, business manager of Kibbutz Kissufim in southern Israel, visited the Jewish Federation of Cleveland in Beachwood on Sept. 24 to discuss the kibbutz’s rebuilding efforts and its partnership with Cleveland’s Jewish community.
During a breakfast, Ben-Ari reflected on the impact of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Kissufim and the work that has followed as residents rebuild their community.
Ben-Ari spoke openly about his experience during the attack and receiving therapy afterward. The experience also influenced his decision to dedicate himself to work supporting his community and its future.
Nearly three years after Oct. 7, Kissufim continues rebuilding homes, businesses and community facilities while addressing the long-term emotional needs of its residents.
Ben-Ari said the kibbutz plans to double its population to more than 200 members within the next 10 years.
“The plan of Kissufim is to grow, to double the community,” Ben-Ari told the Cleveland Jewish News. “We need to build more homes, more houses.”
Plans also include a new community building, shop, office building and additional housing for educators and other employees. Ben-Ari said Kissufim recently completed a building dedicated to therapy and wellness services.
“We understand that this issue is not going to end next year,” he said. “We’re going to have to support our people for the rest of their life.”
The Cleveland-Kissufim partnership has played a role in those recovery efforts, supporting residents and children as well as the kibbutz’s long-term economic development. Cleveland’s Jewish community has also supported the restoration of the Kissufim dairy farm.
“When Cleveland community decided to get connected to Kissufim, they took not a decision of financing or funding,” Ben-Ari said. “They took a decision of coming into the people’s heart because they’re really touching them.”
Ilanit Gerblich Kalir, vice president of international operations at the Federation, said the partnership began after Federation representatives visited Kissufim in January 2024, when residents were evacuated and staying at a hotel near the Dead Sea.
She said the relationship was intended to become a two-way partnership rather than focusing solely on what Cleveland could provide.
One example is the connection with Camp Wise, the Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland’s overnight camp in Claridon Township, where young people from Kissufim have had the opportunity to form relationships with Cleveland-area campers.
“Israel isn’t just a place that you visit, and the Gaza envelope isn’t just a place where war happened,” Gerblich Kalir said. “It’s a place that my friend Yonatan lives in.”
For Ben-Ari, traveling to Cleveland with his wife was also an opportunity to personally thank those who have supported Kissufim. The couple shortened their vacation to make the visit, he said.
“It’s really an opportunity to represent my community, represent myself and to say thank you,” Ben-Ari said. “To say thank you to the people, thousands of miles away, who decided to be a part of what we are building and what we are doing.”
