Yotam's Bench
Where PEN Q's heart began.
Yotam was my friend. A special person who loved unconditionally.
When we lost him, his friends built a bench in his memory in the kibbutz, with Power Rangers drawings — the ones he loved so much. Then someone set up a small library beside it, and people began sitting on the bench to read.
That bench changed something in me. I watched how a simple object — a place to sit, a few books left behind — became a gathering point. Strangers became neighbors. Stories moved from hand to hand. People felt seen, just by sitting there together.
That's the moment PEN Q was born. I wanted to build a digital version of Yotam's bench — a place where books don't just sit on a shelf, but travel between people, carrying warmth and meaning with them. A place where giving a book is an act of love, and receiving one makes you feel like someone truly thought of you.
This bench is for him. And PEN Q is for everyone who believes that books are meant to connect us.
A book you no longer need doesn't have to sit on a shelf.
Leave it here — someone else will continue the journey.