Vendors
Thy Neighbor as Thyself
“Love thy neighbor as thyself” – five words that capture the essence of this nonprofit whose members are Israeli women and Palestinian women from the West Bank. The group meets together to produce crafts, chat, and create amazing products and intercultural friendships. Income from the sale of their work reverts to the Palestinian women to improve their financial situation and contribute to personal-communal empowerment.
The goal of “Thy Neighbor as Thyself” is to build trust and solidarity, while dispelling mutual fear. Taken together, these can forge good neighborly relations and, ultimately, a durable peace.
Al-Kashkher Traditional Bedouin Weaving
Al-Kashkher Traditional Bedouin Weaving is located near Avdat, the ancient Nabataean city.
Among the terraces and springs, the age-old traditions of sheep herding and wool weaving have been preserved.
In the past, the desert women wove the tents that were used during nomadic periods. Today, weaving has become a unique and useful art. The women shear the sheep in the spring, spin the wool into yarn, and weave rugs, cushions, handbags, and ornaments for the home on a traditional loom.
Zeinab Gharbia
Zeinab Gharbia is an honors graduate of the Visual Arts department at Kay College of Beer Sheva.
“I’m particularly proud of this achievement considering my painful childhood growing up as an orphan from a very early age, and my family situation, which compelled me to leave school [after 9th grade] to help earn a living. Until age 25, I was forced to work at various jobs, particularly in agriculture [harvesting]. But my love of learning never stopped. After completing an academic program, I continued in various educational institutions to study, develop, and be empowered, all this while holding down a job as a school art teacher in Lakiya. I see art as a form of self-expression and also a way to sustain the wonderful visual art culture of my heritage, which is disappearing over the years. I fervently hope that through my art, I will be able to transmit and preserve at least a bit of the cultural richness in which I grew up. I work intensely and with great pleasure in various types of material. I use high quality pigments in my pieces so that they will preserve their freshness for many years. Baked at 1200°C., they are also dishwasher and microwave safe. The ornamental objects can withstand all types of weather – both indoor and outdoor temperatures.”
Nuni Yavnai
Nuni Yavnai, a single mother of two daughters, lives and creates in her home studio in Pardes Hanna. She learned fiber arts in the United States – weaving, artistic basket weaving, rug weaving, knitting, and felting.
Mor Shulman Hugim
Mor Shulman Hugim, a mother of four, was trained as a preschool teacher and lives in Kiryat Tivon. Through her creativity, she makes dreams come true out of wood in Miniatura – her studio where she fashions original, hand-made toys for children.
The miniature toys evoke magical moments in which the room becomes an enchanted kingdom, a cave of dwarfs, or a restaurant. The children instantly turn into a king, a fairy, a dwarf, or sometimes a mother or big brother.
The miniature toys are hand made from natural wood, worked or recycled, and radiate warmth and charm.
Rama El
Rama El is a holistic therapist who creates original, unique jewelry from stones and crystals.
Rama was born and lives in Ashkelon.
Since childhood, she has felt that her mission was to help others achieve their goals and find peace in all facets of their lives.
The combination of creativity and expertise in natural healing led her to fashion healing jewelry. The stones are chosen by her intuitively, as she creates a piece of jewelry that is not only beautiful, but also contains strong, powerful, and healing energies.
Every piece of jewelry is an exclusive original.
Explanation of the stones in the jewelry of Rama El
Pyrite
Helps create harmony in our relationships with others
Endows an optimistic perspective on life
Wards off negativity
Works to create trust and neutralize distrust
Alleviates digestive disorders
Carnelian
Known as the “stone of happiness”, enhances all levels of energy
Stimulates motivation, inspiration, and achievement
Affords protection, courage, strength, happiness, and blessings
Inhibits timidity and enhances self-confidence
Provides balance to address problems of being over- or under-weight
Activates the second, sacral chakra and resonates into the stomach chakra
Promotes fertility
Enhances sexual energy
Amethyst, Ahlamah
One of the twelve stones in the High Priest’s breastplate
Calms the nervous system
Excellent for alleviating headaches
Contributes to clarity of thought
Inspires advanced meditative and spiritual states
Stimulates the sixth, third-eye chakra
Symbolizes purity, truth, and eternity
Love, balance, and harmony
Agate, Shevo
One of the twelve stones in the High Priest’s breastplate
Helps dispel anger, anxiety, and fear
A grounding stone that strengthens connection to one’s roots
Protects from falls or collisions
Helps heal all forms of physical injury
Comes in a range of colors
Labradorite
Purifies energies
Promotes the preservation and understanding of life
Eases receptivity to change
Recommended for businesspeople and executives as it helps balance intuition and intellect
Heightens telepathic and astrological powers
Can help treat brain disorders while stimulating mental acuity
Mariana Bidart
Mariana Alyssa Bidart, a 31-year old artist, was born in Argentina and moved to Israel in 2009, currently living in Tel Aviv. Mariana’s primary genre is the design and crocheting of dolls, which she learned as a child. Mariana also does creative work in knitting, tricot yarn, embroidery, sewing, and more.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to make a living from work that I love and delight in doing, and provide a high-quality, unique product for people to enjoy.”