Emuna with children
pencil on paper, 21×29,7 сm

These are lines written later by Emuna, the commander of the Nativ course, when she visited the Nova commemoration site, in the area where they were both murdered: “Today I was in the Nova site. I was looking for you among the pictures. The amount is indigestible. I started getting dizzy. And then I saw you. How beautiful you are, Rita. And suddenly I realized that you were in this hell, and at the same time I realized what a huge and significant mark you left on my heart. I will never forget you. I want you to hear about Rita from my heart, the way I saw her. Rita was plucked out brutally and horrifyingly, along with Simon in their happiest moment. I got to see Rita and Simon fall in love before of my eyes, pure and exciting love. We would look at their loving glances, one at the other, it was impossible to miss it, even in the cluttered up schedule of the entire course. And they are in the world of love as if everything around them stopped. And now the time has really stopped for them. And it hurts so much in my heart! I am comforted by one thing — that I am sure that on 07.10 at 6:00 you were so happy together! On the top of the world… in love… dancing… free… Rita, only a month and a half into the course and you already taught me a lesson for life. A lesson about what the real love is — the greatest lesson we need to learn. A lesson on intelligence, respect, uniqueness, courage. A lesson that every person is a whole world. The Nativ course is a melting pot, everyone comes with his or her own history, own story, and you were so curious to get to know each person, hear each story, and you made each one feel so special, you united the entire course with special connections you created. You made everyone dance during the breaks. I’m sure you make everyone dance up in heaven. Everyone wanted to be Rita’s friend. It was the reason that you were chosen to excel in the course. There is no one who did not fall in love with you. I love you Rita! It is impossible to summarize in a couple of lines how special you are. You don’t know what kind of mark you left on my heart. Thanks for getting to know you. May God avenge your blood!“