Shula Mozes

We have a responsibility to act to establish a better and more equal society, today more than ever

Text: M. Zisso; Photo: iotaproject.com

Can you introduce yourself?

My birthday is on International Women’s Day. I always felt that this required me to be a leading woman, though today I’m softer to myself. I have been married to Zeevie for 53 years, we have 4 children and 13 grandchildren, but I feel like a mother and grandmother of many, many more, thanks to ‘Lamerhav’, an NGO I founded 23 years ago. Young men and women of Lamerhav, who lack a supportive family background, receive support in its program, and enhance my feeling of motherhood. I am an entrepreneur and social investor, love opera, cooking, and knitting, and intend to continue to fulfill dreams and ambitions. About eight years ago I founded iota together with Tal Zur, and I am enthusiastic to see the development of the company and its social contribution.

Tell us more about your work.

I haven’t had a paid job for many, many years, but work takes up many hours of my day. Mainly I mean my activity in Lamerhav, where I am an active chairwoman. We accompany young people who are motivated to succeed, for a long period of time, from the age of 20 to the age of 30, and enable them to grow and reach their potential in all areas of life. I am involved in the decision-making at iota, accompany its activities, and invest my money in it. One of the things I know how to do is enable the growth of people, and I also do this in relation to the iota team and its manager Tal.

What field do you come from?

I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biochemistry from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. At the end of the 70s of the last century, I was trained in computers and worked in the field for more than ten years. Another field in which I developed is cooking – I published a cookbook 34 years ago (“Italy in your kitchen”), had a deli and a cafe where I worked in the kitchen (“Donna Shula” in Neve Avivim, Tel Aviv), and I also worked in other fields (music for example), so I can’t quite choose one field from which I come from. In the last twenty-five years I have grown into the field of empowering and nurturing the success of others, and I am proud and happy about it.

What is your inspiration?

I read a lot, and many role models have influenced me and inspired me, as I take my work in directions that interest me. One of these figures is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a smart, independent, and powerful woman who did not hesitate to work hard and make her voice be heard. Barbra Streisand is also an example to follow, I highly recommend her autobiography. My thinking is analytical but also associative, and meetings with special women, exciting music, literature and cinema, and exposure to people’s pain and suffering arouse in me a need for creative initiative.

What has been the effect of the current times on your inspiration and work?

In the past year, since October 7th, I’ve been more withdrawn. I feel the need to process what I see and experience. I continue to knit, and to be active in Lamerhav. I am happy that iota is active during this period, both in helping the evacuees and war victims (we donated carpets to the new homes of the evacuees, and held knitting circles) and also in continuing production and providing work to the women who knit for us.

Tell us a story about a dream that came true for you. How did you make it happen?

Through the knitted tree sculpture. About eight years had passed since I first felt the desire to create a soft sculpture of the tree of abundance, which has everything in it and is an allegory for the complex, multidimensional human being, until the tree knitted from hundreds of individual elements was hung on the wall. First, I created a collage of photos of trees from New England, then I sculpted in clay a fantasy tree, with branches ending in the heads of strange, funny and scary characters. And only after several years did I start knitting leaves, flowers, fruits, and roots, and assembled them into something whole. The work of assembling took about two years, in a process of trial and error (and doubt), until the result matched what I had in mind. This work inspired the establishment of iota, so the dream came true beyond expectation.

What are you working on these days?

My motto has always been “I can’t be well if my neighbor is not well”. It hasn’t changed. We have a responsibility to act to establish a better and more equal society. Today more than ever. And if not me, then who? And everyone who saves one starfish, contributes his share.

What do you wish for the coming year?

To see the end of the war, the return of the hostages, to see that Israel returns to being a country that I am proud of and that it is good for me to live in, and to continue doing good in the world. To be healthy so that I can see all this happening, and so that I can continue to contribute my part.

You can now get iota-designed handmade products in the Czech Republic at Perdonahome.