The third annual “Women’s Wisdom” conference was held on Sunday at the Leonardo Hotel in Be’er Sheva.
The conference is held by the Beit Moriah organization and is co-sponsored by the Department for community work and the Department for Jewish Culture of the city of Be’er Sheva. The event was attended by about 400 women from across southern Israel and included a variety of lectures dealing with issues such as relationships, parenting and family.
Deputy Be’er Sheva Mayor Avi Wurtzman opened the conference and said that it is one of the main characteristics of the cultural development in Be’er Sheva.
The highlight of the conference was an exciting lecture by Miriam Peretz, who lost two sons during their military service.
During the lecture, which was entitled “Miriam’s Song,” Peretz told her personal story of coping with the deaths of her two sons and of her husband.
“Our spirits are strong and even when I’m hurting and crying over the death of my sons and husband – I’m not broken,” Peretz told her audience. “A spirit does not break. It grows and takes on new forms of giving and devotion, of a connection to Israel and its legacy.”
She added, “From the darkness that had befallen my family I choose every day to spread light. Each of us needs to turn on our personal light and lift it high.”
Beit Moriah Director Shemaiah Berkovitz said of the conference: “Beit Moriah sees this kind of conference as important and necessary. In the wake of the great demand and success of the first few conferences we held, we’ve decided to hold more conferences in the coming year for the welfare of the general public and residents of the Negev.”
Beit Moriah has operated for over 17 years in the city of Be’er Sheva. The organization runs a wide range of community educational programs, including services for children and youth, the elderly, new immigrants and more.
