Shuk Olim, a market where olim entrepreneurs sold their goods from stands in central Tel Aviv, took place last week at Givon Square as part of the city’s Layla Lavan (White Night) events, with dozens of vendors taking part.
“We brought here over 50 olim vendors,” Devon Conway, the Tel Aviv Olim events and partnerships manager at Nefesh B’Nefesh, told The Jerusalem Post at the event. “Every single booth has an oleh with a story, and they’re selling their products from the small business that they opened here in Israel after their aliyah.”
The Shuk Olim Layla Lavan event was put together by Nefesh B’Nefesh, the primary nonprofit organization that facilitates immigration to Israel, in coordination with the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality.
Conway noted that the olim vendors came from a wide range of countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Ukraine, Belarus, France, and Switzerland. He added that the event was the only one during Layla Lavan focused specifically on olim.
At the market, the small business owners sold a variety of goods, from clothing, accessories, and jewelry to paintings and other works of art.
One vendor, Tamara Tayar, a new olah from Australia, was selling bags, stickers, and other items from her business, Zio Brat Club.
The items sold by the business feature ironic text and images mocking the slogans and insults often used online to target Israelis and Jews.
“Zio Brat Club started because I think it’s fun to call my friends things like ‘Slutty Little Zionist’ and ‘Hot God Colonizer,’” Tayar said, referring to text that appears on bags sold by the business. “We sell things that the comment section calls us.”
Another bag sold by Zio Brat Club features the word “Israeli” along with a definition reading, “Middle Eastern by ancestry, white supremacist by comment section.” Yet another reads, “Pure-bred Zio-dog.”
“I’m just really sick and tired of defensive hasbara,” she told the Post, adding that the onus was not on Jews and Israelis to prove their own humanity.
Zio Brat Club founder: Comedy is the best form of defense
“Defensive hasbara is very much trying to prove why we deserve to even exist. No. We’re people,” she said. “Yes, I do want to troll the trolls, and comedy is the best form of defense.”
Another vendor, David Ratz, from the United States, was selling his paintings.
“I started painting during COVID, and I paint a lot of Israel, and so Israel inspires a lot of my work,” Ratz explained, adding that he sold paintings in a number of different sizes.
“During the war in March, I started painting on a much smaller scale because I would bring things with me to the miklat, and just paint during that time,” he said.
Many of Ratz’s paintings featured motifs such as flowers or everyday scenes from Tel Aviv. He also had paintings of the Western Wall and various landscapes on display.
Another woman, Lili Gottlieb, from Switzerland, was also present, selling jewelry from her business, Lovely Details.
“We are selling jewelry that makes people happy,” Gottlieb said. “The idea behind it is to always have a lucky charm or piece that brings you happiness and joy when you wear it.”
She described her background as “oriental” and said many of her pieces were connected to that background.
“In Switzerland, pieces like these are not very well known, but slowly they really liked the concept of the lucky charms, like the eye, the hand pieces that bring luck and make people happy,” she said.
Gottlieb, who made aliyah in 2023, mere weeks before the war broke out, said that despite the challenges, she was very proud to be Israeli.
“I’m very proud to be part of this people, and to be part of this amazing country,” she said. “And we got so many amazing expressions of solidarity since we arrived.”
