Nitzan Shesler

Commemorative Folding Book for Family of Nitzan Shesler, Fallen IDF Soldier, Gaza War

By sheer coincidence, or perhaps something else, I was introduced to the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Florida's Gulf Coast several months after the October 7, 2023 kidnapping and massacre of Israelis by Hamas.

At that time, the Federation was in partnership with a community group in Israel that was linking Diaspora Jewish artists with families of young Israeli soldiers who died in battle defending the Jewish state. I was asked to participate, but felt unsure that there was any art I could possibly create that would bring solace and healing to a grieving family.

For over the last 40 years, I have worked with Holocaust themes. My mixed media works, handmade books and paintings are in the permanent collection of the Florida Holocaust Museum. My videos have been screened at major film festivals, both in America and abroad.

Still, I was at a loss as to where and how to begin with art to commemorate the life and heroism of Nitzan Shesler.

Then, in a burst of creative energy, or perhaps grace, I created a folding book with mixed media photo-collages in about six hours of studio time.

For me, the skillfully planned and well-coordinated terrorist attack and mass murder of Jewish children, women, kibbutzniks and concert-goers on October 7th was simply a continuation of the Holocaust, except this time it was in today's Israel, rather than in 1940’s Nazi-occupied Europe.

The bravery of individual Israeli civilians, first-responder soldiers and emergency personnel immediately following the Hamas attacks fills me with awe (a word that has essentially lost its meaning in the post-modern Western world).

Miniscule Israel, a country with only about 7.5 million Jews and the size of New Jersey, is fighting life and death battles for Western civilization and values against an Islamic jihad funded by unlimited petro-dollars. Israel is battling against a Muslim subculture that values the martyrdom of their young men, women and, yes, children.

For a better understanding of this reality please visit October 7th: Collages of Catastrophe in Israel.

Yet global Western elites continue to blame and castigate Israelis for defending themselves from immediate slaughter. And, worst of all, college students across the world continue to praise Hamas, with its calculated provocation of the Israel Defense Forces solely aimed at obtaining news footage of the inevitable horrors of war.

Keep in mind that Hamas terrorists murdered, burned and often beheaded at least 40 Israeli infants, and they were proud of it.

Over 360,000 civilian Israeli army reservists were mobilized for active duty, on top of a standing army of roughly 169,000 full-time personnel. Almost every male, and many females, risked their lives and limbs to protect their country, and they continue to risk their lives to protect their fellow Israelis, as well as Jews in the Diaspora.

Currently, the U.S. military has a recruitment shortfall of nearly 40,000 young men and women. A large majority of young Americans from the ages of 18-24 fail to meet even the minimal recruitment standards of mental and physical fitness, and the vast majority of young Americans have absolutely no desire to serve in the defense of their country.

The situation at our elite colleges and universities is even worse in many ways. The ROTC officer-training programs were thrown off most campuses during the Viet Nam War by radicalized left-wing professors and administrators. This important civilian/military institution produces well-educated junior officers in all branches of our armed services. But the vast majority of our so-called “best and brightest” are happy to shirk military service, while they’re more than happy to grab well-paying positions in Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Madison Avenue. Of course, there are exceptions, but they just prove the rule.

The folding artist's book that I created for the Shesler family commemorating their fallen soldier son was apparently stolen during a group art exhibition of Diaspora artists in Israel.

The artifact is gone, but the fact of Nitzan's ultimate sacrifice remains, and will remain, in my heart as long as I have breath and memory.

Alav ha-shalom, may peace be upon you. Am Yisrael chai, the people of Israel live.

Bob Barancik
St. Petersburg, Florida
March 21, 2025