Alanna from New York came to us with a vision that was both deeply personal and defiant.

As the daughter of Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union, she grew up carrying the weight of inherited silence and strength. It wasn’t until her year of study in Tel Aviv that something within her shifted. In Israel, she felt truly at home. For the first time, she could embrace her full identity: Jewish, queer, and free.

That experience marked a turning point.

In the time following October 7, and in a world that began to feel more hostile, something shifted again. The spaces that once felt aligned no longer held the same meaning. Alanna described a growing need to reorder what comes first, to return to something more essential.

She spoke about feeling Jewish not just as part of her identity, but as its foundation. Something that remains, regardless of context, regardless of how the world responds. At the same time, her experience in Tel Aviv remained just as present. A place where she had first felt fully herself. That tension between belonging and rupture became part of the piece.

Her vision centered around the Venus symbol, a form often associated with femininity and resilience. For her, it became a way to hold together multiple parts of her identity, her connection to Israel, her commitment to her people, and her refusal to shrink in the face of fear.

For the text, she chose:

אֵשֶׁת לַפִּידוֹת

Eshet Lapidot

Originally describing the prophetess Deborah, the phrase has come to hold the meaning of a woman of flame and clarity. Someone who leads. Someone who illuminates. Someone who does not waver.

For Alanna, this piece became a response to the moment she is living in. Not only a statement of identity, but a way of standing in it. A mark of pride, strength, light, and belonging that cannot be shaken.