'I had not truly come home': Israeli psychologist turns Gaza, Lebanon battlefield trauma into art

Psychologist Michael Feuerstein, after over 400 days of reserve duty in Gaza and Lebanon, created an art exhibition titled 'From the battlefield to home' to process his trauma and the difficulty of reintegrating into civilian life. The exhibition, combining texts, poems, and images, has been displayed at medical and academic venues across Israel, with an upcoming showing at the Feuerstein Institute in Jerusalem.

Michael Feuerstein, a Jerusalem psychologist and reservist who has completed over 400 days of reserve duty in Gaza and Lebanon, has turned his battlefield experiences into an art exhibition titled 'From the battlefield to home, an intimate journey.' The exhibition, comprising texts, poems, and images, gives visual and emotional form to his journey from war to home, from silence to expression, and from fragmentation toward reconstruction. Feuerstein described feeling like 'an alien from space' upon returning from his first 100-day stint, unable to connect with civilians going about their daily lives. The exhibition has already been presented at the Hadassah-University Medical Center in Ein Kerem and the University of Haifa, with an upcoming showing at the Feuerstein Institute in Jerusalem on Monday, September 28. Feuerstein is the grandson of the late Prof. Reuven Feuerstein, a world-renowned developmental psychologist and Israel Prize winner who pioneered Structural Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning Experience. He works as a psychologist at the Feuerstein Institute while doing his specialist work at Hadassah. He is married to Margalit and has three children aged nine, six, and 18 months. His sister, Chava Dardik, oversees the institute's five rehabilitation centers around the country, which care for 230 men and women dealing with PTSD and the transition back to life after combat. Feuerstein is about to leave for another 500 days of reserve duty in Syria, which will be the fourth time in a row he misses celebrating his birthday at home.