Nimrod Arnin and Nova Survivors Share Harrowing Memories at Los Angeles Nova Exhibit

Nimrod Arnin relives Oct. 7 every day at the Nova Festival Exhibition, “Oct. 7, 06:29 AM – The Moment Music Stood Still.” He is not the only one. Dozens of survivors are participating in this unique exhibit, which includes thousands of items collected at the festival site. 

Some of these items were collected by Arnin, one of the festival’s producers and a group of friends who created “Hamal” (a technological war-room). During the first day they were able to locate 30 missing people, 15 of whom were found alive. Arnin lost many good friends that day, including his 22-year-old sister, Ayelet.

Ayelet, who was a news editor at the Israeli television channel Kan TV, recorded what happened in that shelter on her cell phone. For three hours, her phone captured the terrorists throwing grenades into the small bomb shelter and how Aner Shapira, a member of the Nahal Brigade, an elite unit of the IDF, kept throwing them back out. The recording continued even after she died, capturing the moment when Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who arrived at the festival with Shapira, screamed, “I don’t have an arm. I lost my arm,” before he and three others were taken by Hamas to Gaza. (On Aug. 31, the IDF announced that one of the bodies found in Rafah was Goldberg-Polin’s.)

There are dozens of videos and recordings playing at the exhibit, some capturing the chilling moments when young people were running for their lives, others showing survivors who narrowly escaped and testimonials from parents who lost a child or two.

Arnin points to his sister’s picture hanging on a wall along with 404 other people murdered at the festival. In the photo, she is raising a cup and smiling. Next to her is a photo of another 22-year-old, Shani Louk. A clip of Louk’s lifeless body on the back of a pickup truck circulated soon after the attack and became one of the first viral videos of the Israel-Hamas war.

At first, Arnin admits it was difficult to be there, surrounded by the voices and images. However, the importance of letting the world know and remember overshadows the pain. He wants people to know and acknowledge what happened there. That’s why he and other survivors arrived in Los Angeles, so there would always be someone there to talk to visitors.

At first, Arnin admits it was difficult to be there, surrounded by the voices and images. However, the importance of letting the world know and remember overshadows the pain.

It’s one thing to hear about what happened on Oct. 7 in the news and a completely different experience to visit the exhibit, listening to the testimonials while standing next to the burned cars and abandoned tents. All the items were collected and brought to the exhibit from ground zero. The only replica, perhaps, is that of the bomb shelter — a small room of about 45 square feet. 

Visiting the exhibit is very much like visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. There is a display of shoes and clothes left behind by the victims. There is a bar with the actual bottles left on the counter, the portable toilets riddled with bullets and the purple canopy under which the partygoers danced.

There is a memorial wall with the photos of all those who lost their lives — some were raped, others tortured and killed, and some were fortunate enough to die instantly from a gunshot or grenade. Those who survived still carry the scars the physical ones but more so the emotional ones.

Guy Ben Shimon, one of the Nova survivors, told the Knesset this year that he and his friends are unable to function. “There are close to 50 people from Nova who committed suicide. This was true a couple of months ago, this number might have gone up.” He said that many survivors are hospitalized in mental institutions and he himself can hardly function. However, this number is disputed by different organizations working with the Nova survivors and by the Mental Health Division at the Ministry of Health, which claims there are only a few cases.

Soon after the tragedy, Arnin and other professionals established NovaHelp, an emergency mental health project for Nova survivors. 

Linda Sason, the spokesperson of the Nova healing project, said that the organization supports about 8,000 people, which includes Nova survivors and bereaved families. “Talking about suicide is tricky, it triggers people to do things. We are providing the emotional support. Once a week, we have community events for the survivors and families who lost a loved one. It gives them strength and helps rehabilitate them.” 

Arnin said that during the first week after Oct. 7, he was busy locating missing people, injured and dead. “We wanted to locate all the bodies so we could bring them to burial as soon as possible.” 

Those days were the most difficult ones. Sometimes, as he pulled bodies out of burned cars, he recognized the dead as friends. Then, three days after the terror attack on Israel, he found out that his sister Ayelet had been murdered. “Her friend who was with her in the bomb shelter survived. He went through a series of operations and told us what they had been through.”

The exhibition was conceived by Omri Sassi, Yoni Feingold, Ofir Amir and Yagil Rimoni of the Nova festival and directed by Reut Feingold. Bringing it to Los Angeles cost the organizers over $5 million. Some of it was covered by donations, but they are still working to raise money. All proceeds will go to help Nova survivors.

That’s why they are here—to tell the world their story, so no one will ever forget.” – Linda Sason

“If you visit the exhibition and happen to see one of the survivors or family members of those murdered at the festival, don’t hesitate and go talk with them,” Sason. said “That’s why they are here — to tell the world their story, so no one will ever forget.”

All proceeds from ticket sales will fund the activities of the Nova community, including commemorating the murdered, supporting bereaved families, and aiding survivors on their healing journey.

Tickets for $8 can be purchased at the website: https://www.novaexhibition.com

The Nova Exhibition is located at 8631 Hayden Place in Culver City. It is open through October 8.