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Every Story Matters: Remembering the Horror and Heroism of October 7

6 Oct
Israel flags

“Every story matters.” That’s something Guy, our excellent tour guide, said on the first day of my trip to Israel in June 2024. It’s a quote that’s stayed with me all these months since I first heard it.

I was visiting Israel as part of a Jewish National Fund (JNF) volunteer mission, and indeed, over the course of my time there, I heard many stories about what happened on or because of October 7 — stories of horror, cruelty, and sadness, but also stories of heroism, resilience, and hope. Every single one of them was significant.

This week marks two years, 24 months, 104 weeks, 732 days, since October 7. As the war in Gaza has dragged on and propaganda has altered the narrative for people around the world, the events that started it all, the reason Israel went into Gaza in the first place, have unfortunately receded into the distant memory of too many. Some deny what happened, and others would like to brush aside the attack entirely, but we cannot allow that day to be forgotten. We must remember it. Bearing witness and sharing stories are the best ways to make sure nobody ever forgets what happened.

Thankfully, to commemorate the anniversary, there are lots of stories being shared. For example, HBO Max and Paramount Plus each have series that dramatize the events of October 7, Amazon Prime Video has a new documentary, Eli Sharabi’s book Hostage shares the ordeal of his 491 days in Hamas captivity, and the award-winning film The Road Between Us is now in theaters. (Yes, there’s also cautious optimism that we may be close to a deal to end the war and finally bring home the remaining 48 hostages, living and deceased. But that’s another story altogether.)

I did my best to write down or somehow capture as many of the stories I heard or experienced on my trip. Of course, it was difficult to remember everything and every detail. There were so many.

Nevertheless, here, in abbreviated versions, are some of the notable ones. To protect people’s identities, I’ve removed most of the last names.

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I Can’t Believe It’s Been a Year Since October 7

7 Oct
Israel flag with heart

Today is October 7, 2024, one year since the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. On that day, people in Israel — innocent, unsuspecting people of all ages and many nationalities — were killed, kidnapped, raped, assaulted, and more by the terrorist organization Hamas.

On a Shabbat and on a holiday morning.

In their homes and at a music festival.

It’s unbelievable.

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They Lived. They Danced. And One Day, We Will Dance Again, Too

25 Apr
We Will Dance Again / Nova Music Festival Exhibition

What’s happening on college campuses across the country right now is nothing short of disgusting and distressing. Thousands of students — and faculty members, too — are protesting and creating encampments in support of the Palestinian people. 

Or so they say.

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Another Year Comes to a Close, but Challenging Times Won’t End

29 Dec
The road continues, photo by Mason Wildfang

We have reached the end of another year, and I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted.

The first half of this year was good, and I had a lot of fun. But the second half? Definitely more stressful and challenging.

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Thankful for True Friends and So Much More

21 Nov

On October 7, I was in Chicago enjoying a fun weekend with friends. But I awoke that morning to the shocking news of the attack on Israel by Hamas and the deaths of a then-unknown number of people. As the day went on, the details became grimmer, and I was thankful to be out of town and busy, otherwise I surely would have been firmly planted in front of the TV all day watching for the latest developments. (Checking in on Twitter was more than enough, for better and for worse.)

Since then, I’ve been horrified by what we’ve learned about the attack and just how brutal it was. Not only were between 1,200 and 1,400 innocent men, women, and children murdered, and not only were more than 240 people taken hostage, they were beaten, raped, mutilated, beheaded, tortured, and more. Early on a Shabbat morning, a day that was also a Jewish holiday. Elderly. Babies. Disabled people. Young people enjoying a music festival. Some were burned beyond recognition and still have not been identified, all these weeks later. Parents were taken from their children and children were taken from their parents right in front of them. All of this was carried out with glee by terrorist monsters who documented it on camera, celebrated it, had plans for it to be much worse than it was, and saw October 7 as just the first in a series of attacks on Israel. One Hamas leader actually said the terrorist group intended to launch “a second, a third, a fourth” attack until Israel is “annihilated,” as if it was perfectly normal thing to say and do.

Despite those details, I’ve been equally horrified by the reaction of the world, and the fact that people didn’t instantly, universally condemn what happened, and haven’t come to Israel’s defense as it fights to defeat Hamas once and for all and bring all of the hostages back home. It didn’t even take a day for sentiments like “Israel deserved it” to spread all around the globe.

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