Digital KavOFEK #1

Editorial

We are delighted to launch the first digital issue of KAV OFEK.

In September 2000, the first issue of KAV OFEK was published.Avi Nutkevitch, who was the chairman of OFEK at the time, wrote, among other things, in his words of blessing:

“OFEK Writes” is of course another way to promote ideas, but it is primarily the creation of a space for the production of new ideas, for new conceptualizations, for further processing of experiences; It is another way to channel creativity; It is also another channel of communication between us and ourselves, between us and the world.”

Silvia Silberman and Ilana Litvin wrote in the editorial: After debates that ranged from excessive modesty to grandiose ambition, between the intention to publish a “dry” informative page and the desire to create a polished professional journal, the members of the committee decided to launch a journal that would encourage experiential and spontaneous writing even by those of us who shy away from writing for the established professional press.

The journal was published every year; grew, developed and expanded, and the members of its board also changed over the years. In December 2011, issue No. 12 was released, which was also the last. Since then, it fell asleep for ten years. The image of “Sleeping Beauty” waiting for the prince to come, give her a kiss, and wake her up from her slumber came up in the system.

The first thoughts about renewing KAV OFEK in a digital format, with the encouragement of OFEK’s board, came up over two years ago, even before the outbreak of COVID, and began with meetings between Sivanie Shiran and Yermi Harel. Sivanie was obliged to retire and a new editorial board was established which includes Eliat Aram, Yermi Harel and Shelly Sussman: on the editorial team of the first issues, on the editorial team of the middle issues and a newcomer to the board, respectively, hoping for a combination of old and new, tradition and innovation, an important issue in itself, in the field of group relations.

The theme of the issue, which turns the gaze to organization and organizing during the days of an epidemic, invites consideration of the effects of the epidemic on the new system that formed during this period. The digital acceleration in the days of Corona and the transformative change in the perception of location and space, removed limitations on a global society, which became “natural”. The technological tools also became “natural”, and the editors were helped by the available technology of Zoom, WhatsApp, email and shared files for the day-to-day work and communication with the article writers and other people who took part and helped in the production of the issue. Plans for an editorial meeting in Israel were canceled with the imposition of the lockdowns and movement restrictions, so that in fact, like many teams during this period, the editorial board operated in the online space and did not meet physically from its establishment and throughout the period of work on the magazine.

The Corona epidemic gave renewed validity to renewing the journal in an online format, one that is accessible and available beyond the boundaries of time, space and language, and invites expression in a variety of media and styles, such as video and visual images. As in the previous links in the KAV OFEK chain, in the renewed digital edition the wish is to provide a creative and playful space for engaging in the areas of OFEK’s knowledge, a space for conceptual and experiential expression, for collecting and processing experiences and for communication within the community of members and between it and the world.

This task is part of the contemporary challenge of searching for alternative ways and additional channels for meeting and dialogue. For example, KAV OFEK’s digital platform allows comments on the article page, as a channel of this type. Is it possible to think of a “hybrid model” in OFEK, which has some physical meetings, some online meetings and some on the online KAV OFEK? Time will tell.

The first part of the issue contains three articles dealing, from different angles, with the learning experience from online conferences or meetings about conferences. They all took place during the months of the epidemic. We opened with an piece by Ronit Kark and Miriam Shapira examining their experience as participants in the pioneer eGRC conference in 2020. The central theme, around the question or the feeling of omitting intimacy in a conference with digital authority, immediately stimulated thoughts in the editorial board and indeed we included a comment on the subject of omission by Yermi Harel.

The second piece is actually a collection of contributions from the director, staff members and participants of the online conference that took place in February 2021 and to which an OFEK evening was dedicated in June of this year, led by Smadar Ashuach and Amir Scharf, the content of which can be found here.

This part of the issue is concluded with a meta-learning article about learning from conferences through a series of Zoom meetings. The article was edited by Mira Erlich-Ginor who conducted three OFEK evenings on Zoom in the fall of 2020, between the waves of the Corona virus, with the primary task – learning from conferences. The second part of the issue also contains three articles, which deal with the question we presented in the call for proposals about OFEK as a host organization and the experience of leadership in its various shades and colors during the epidemic years.

We start with chairperson Yael Shenhav Sharoni’s view on the management of OFEK – the organization as an organization – in times of epidemic, physical distance and uncertainty.

We continue with a thoughtful article from an OFEK member, Gabi Bonwitt, about the group of OFEK members that examined group relations and Corona, in which he touches on issues we will return to later – memory, otherness and foreignness.

We conclude with the contribution of Leslie Brissett, director of the program for group relations at the Tavistock Institute London, who also sent an article thinking about identity, belonging and the digital experience in the days of an epidemic from his point of view as a director. This article also provoked deep reactions among the members of the editorial board and here you will find Shelly Sussman’s response to the idea of “a person in a body”.

The third and last part of the issue is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend Judy Levy who passed away prematurely before the epidemic. The memorial evening for her death in August 2019 at Yigal Ginat’s house in Jerusalem is perhaps one of the last memories before the epidemic of OFEK members getting together, talking, crying, remembering and singing Judy.

Here you will find a collection of interviews, some recorded, some written, of friends who remember Judy; Judy’s original article from 2011, “Memory Lost and Memory Found”, with her original response and with a contemporary addition from Gabriella Braun, a memory wrapped in sensitive, responsible and loving editing by Leila Djemal and Miri Tzadok.

It seems to us that maybe Judy is our sleeping beauty, helping us wake up and wake KAV OFEK. Although unlike in fairy tales, we cannot bring her back to breathe within us, we can try and carry on as she breathes from our memories.

We hope you enjoy the issue and that its various “kisses and caresses” will inspire you to contribute in the future.

The Editors,

Shelly, Yermi and Eliat
September 2021

* The editors would like to thank first and foremost, Ilan Kirschenbaum, for his partnership and assistance in the realization of the digital edition.

* To OFEK’s board, which approved funds that helped in the realization of the issue, especially in the editing of the recorded segments.

* And of course. to all the writers and contributors – there is no journal without content.

Digital Kav OFEK#2

Editorial

We are delighted to put forward Kav OFEK’s 2022 – the second digital edition. In preparing this edition, we could identify characteristics of doing something for the ‘second time’. In the second edition of Kav Ofek in-print, in 2001, Ilana Litvin, Silvia Silberman and Eliat Aram, the then editors, wrote:
“we are all familiar with the burst of energy that comes with beginnings, with a genesis. It is much harder to generate energy in order to persevere in creating and invest in maintenance”.

These similar feelings, that accompanied the preparation of the second edition echoed the title: “on longing, movement and nevertheless”. Inspired by the famous lyrics* pointing to the “ongoing journey” and the necessity to relentlessly “keep on moving”, we have wondered – what is the meaning of ‘movement’ these days, when the journey seems to go on and on, regresses, comes to a stand-still – how do individuals, groups, organisations, societies, communities move? Where do longing for human touch and closeness meet movement and moving? Where do we find the resources to keep on moving nevertheless and despite it all?**

We have recognised the circularity of movement in OFEK in the very recent GRC which took place with TAU entitled “Being a Therapist at this time” under the leadership of Yosi Triest and Moshe Bergstein. The GRC was cancelled twice during the pandemic, the journey extended, and eventually it happened this last September with a significant number of participants. What has been the place of longing, perseverance, determination, in the success of this GRC, despite it all and nevertheless?

The articles in this edition are also characterised by the circular movement of back and forth. The first cluster includes two articles dealing with insights from the Corona years, and relate to loneliness, movement and stuckness. First, a thought piece from Shmuel Bernstein dealing with loneliness and lack of movement, and – through re-examining Baudelaire’s La Solitude- offers a new perspective to think of the “empty space”. In the second thought piece, Simon Western touches on questions of loneliness, isolation and melancholy in the digital age, and discusses them through a case study of drone pilots in the USA air force.

The second cluster includes three articles emerging directly from OFEK-related activities and Group Relations thinking. The first, by Hagit Shachar-Paraira and Eyal Etzioni, examines sensitively and from the perspective of the participant, the processes in a reading group of systemic-psychoanalytic papers, which took place over a period of four years (including during covid and lockdown and a return to in-person), suggesting a relationship between learning/study and food/feeding. In the paper “tears of an administrator” which also deals with the experience of participating, Ori Weyl shares his experience of being a GRC administrator this past July with a touching humorous style. This section concludes with a thought piece from Gilad Ovadia which examines the addition of a fourth T boundary, in addition to the original three of Task, Territory and Time. He suggests that of reality Testing, which contributes the strengthening of movement between the ideal and the real in organisational work.

This edition is sealed with the contributions of two guest writers, asking us – “moving – where to?”
Gili Yuval, poet and writer dealing with the world of work, points to the tension between loneliness and a road-trip type movement, to the longing for solitude and suggests a ‘solution’ of a journey-to-nowhere.
Coreene Archer’s thought piece responds to the ancient song “keep moving on the ongoing journey” with contemporary voices and songs and challenges us to examine for ourselves questions of choice and internal listening.

Happy reading and please do use the comment boxes to share your reflections, questions and thoughts.

The Editors,

Yermi, Eliat and Shely
November 2022
* “Ze Kore” (It Happens) / Lyrics Shmulik Kraus
** Call for Papers Kav OFEK #2

Digital Kav OFEK #3

Editorial

In Kav OFEK, is “the despair becoming more comfortable”? The papers and collections in this third edition of Kav OFEK move between despair and hope and everything in between. So has been the editorial movement in our production work. We have found ourselves sea-soring back and forth, up and down, between frustration and despair, to hope and action. Our action is articulated through talking, thinking, opening up spaces where we can reflect on our experiences and memories.

The Kav includes two papers which had been written before 7th October 2023. In the first of these, Sarah Metzer and Corinne Zeevi-Weil explore the phenomenon of silencing and shame around the detention of Palestinian children. The second paper, a thought-piece by Gilad Ovadia, inquires into the sources of authority in Group Relations organisations and looks critically at the state of authority in OFEK.

A second paper by Gilad Ovadia also explores issues regarding work in GR organisations, which are based on psychoanalytic and socio-systemic thinking. This paper, which aims to understand the “analytic condition” in psychoanalytic-systemic work, discloses that it has been written in early 2024 and refers to the polarised situation in Israel, whilst stating the importance of the workspace, and the necessity of preserving the vitality of the analytic state.

The rest of the contributions directly relate to the events on – and following from – the 7th October 2023:

Simi Talmi shares her ‘live’ journal reflecting on the entry and integration of displaced survivors from the Otef Gaza communities into her own kibbutz community.

A recorded conversation with Leila Djemal on her contribution to the response effort and rehabilitation work with the Thai workers from the Otef sheds understanding about relationships between groups and other circles of influence that are shifting and expanding Israeli society’s borders.
A collection of thoughts and reflections from members of the Tavistock Community following an evening they called “Many Wars, One Peace – Many Lands, One Home”. The writers are from a range of countries including South Africa, Italy, USA, Canada, The Netherlands, Lithuania, UK and Israel. They bring various perspectives on their experience of borders, rights and conflict, both in preparation and during the event.

The pair of articles by Orly Aflalo-Kamil and Gabi Bonwitt refers to an OFEK evening entitled “draw me a dream please” that took place in May 2024, which hosted the illustrator and activist Zeev Engelmayer. The evening was a second meeting in a series dealing with the connection between Art and Society, inquiring into the role and functions of Art in various social contexts as a channel into the collective unconscious.

Most of this edition’s illustrations are by Engelmayer, which he calls “postcards”, and which reflect – we feel – a similar movement between hope and despair as we have felt and as is expressed in the various contributions.

Our deep gratitude to all the writers and contributors, to Ilan Kirschenbaum for placing so aptly this third digital edition, and to Zeev Engelmayer for allowing us to use his vivid postcards to connect our written words with Art.
Best wishes
Shely, Yermi and Eliat
The Editorial team
August 2024