Unity is the key to correctly commemorating October 7

The question of how to mark October 7 – especially as its trauma and effects are still unfolding – has weighed heavily on every Israeli, every Jew, every civilian, leader, and decision-maker for the 24 hours that marked the anniversary of Hamas’s massacre one year ago.

The line of tension strings tightly between the sheer agony, the incomprehensible nature of the events, the anger, and the disbelief. And alongside all that stands the drive, humanity, and sacrifice that have been displayed this year by the civilians.

How do you remember something that is still ongoing? How do you commemorate something, the scars of which are so deep, it is a struggle to chart them out into something digestible? How do you look straight into the eyes of hostage families, of October 7 survivors, knowing you can’t even begin to comprehend what they went through then and are going through now?

Schedule-wise, October 7 was packed with memorial and solidarity events, starting with hostage family members, flanked by crowds, marching at 6 a.m. from Paris Square in Jerusalem to the Prime Minister’s Residence. They arrived just before 6:29 a.m., the time at which the Hamas terrorist attack began one year ago. A two-minute siren commenced.

Across the mountains and down to the desert in the South, hundreds of people arrived at the site of the Supernova music festival at around 5 a.m. to mark the day where it all began. “Bereaved families gathered in silence to remember their loved ones. Mothers wept over photographs of their children, while siblings sat quietly at the very places where their loved ones fell. Though a year has passed, the pain remains raw and unrelenting, as families come together to honor those they’ve lost, ensuring their memories endure,” Post photographer Chen Schimmel wrote from the site early Monday morning.

Fighting for survival and future  

Many have been reliving that horrible day for a year now, and they will continue to do so. Part of the incredulity is that there is no clear exit plan – definitely not now that the IDF has shifted northward and has begun a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, and the North continues to more explicitly resemble a ghost region with burned forests from missile and rocket attacks.

Israeli society remains strong, proud, and united against its enemies, even in the face of unspeakable horrors. The resilience shown over the past year has been nothing short of extraordinary.

It is the people – the salt of the earth – who have carried the torch of unity, proving time and time again that their commitment to one another and to the safety of the nation is unshakable. In a landscape where leadership has faltered, ordinary citizens have stepped up, showing the world that Israel’s strength lies in its shared values and its unwavering sense of responsibility for one another.

This is a society that, while mourning profound losses, also celebrates its ability to stand tall in the face of adversity.

The concept of arvut hadadit (mutual assurance) has never been more relevant, as communities come together, refusing to leave anyone behind. Whether it’s providing support for families of hostages or rebuilding communities devastated by violence, Israelis have demonstrated that their bonds are deeper than the chaos surrounding them.

As the nation moves forward, Israelis know that they are not only fighting for their survival but also for their future.

We have been given, thanks to the Jewish and Gregorian calendars we follow, a period of remembrance, as it were, between October 7, 2024, and Simchat Torah, which falls out this year on October 24.

Let us use it to appreciate and emulate those of us this year who did not shy away from their pain in the face of the worst act of violence against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

Let us embrace their fight for truth and their insistence that no one gets left behind.