When Reut came to Heartbeat, after never taking part in any Israeli-Palestinian program, she was very shy and spoke very softly. Towards the end of her first year in the program, Reut shared with the ensemble one of her enchanting poems, “Al Chamoti,” about the city of Jerusalem, which was put to melodies and harmonies with the ensemble, and then performed at the end of the year concert last year. Before the concert, her parents approached Heartbeat staff and told the staff how excited they were to finally hear one of Reut’s poems. This is an example of the unique, safe or safer space Heartbeat co-creates with the youth musicians in each ensemble. Heartbeat is a place in which to explore difficult questions and uncomfortable feelings in a safe space with a supportive community, free from judgement. For many, it is the only place that feels truly like home. Finally, in the final few meetings of this past program year, Reut spoke about how she decided this year to attend a protest against the extremely provocative and offensive Jerusalem Day parade, in which thousands of ultra-nationalist, ultra-religious Jews purposefully access the Western Wall through the Muslim Quarter of Damascus Gate to taunt Palestinians, usually erupting in violence. Even worse, this year Jerusalem Day also intersected with the first night of Ramadan. Reut spoke adamantly about how it was important for her to go to this protest against violence and racism, even though this meant risking her own safety as this counter protest has often been violently targeted by the ultra-nationalist paraders.