This October 7th was the one year anniversary of the tragic events that occurred in Israel on October 7th 2023. In consideration of this day, we had a school assembly reflecting on the events that occurred a year ago mostly because, according to Dr. Stone, the Judaics team was thinking of “mourning together and being together as a school.” Rabbi Schaffer also reflects on how planning this event was “very hard because it’s still so fresh even though it’s been a year and unlike Yom Hazikaron has Yom Haatzmaut we are not sure yet how we will recover.”
The event was separated into three parts: grief, resilience, and hope. The first section was “grief” which began with an intro to the program that was led by Rabbi Schaffer. Following the intro, Rabbi Albo presented a video of Thomas Hand, the father of Emily Hand, a nine year-old girl who was held hostage by Hamas for fifty devastating days. When the video came to an end, Rabbi Perl followed by giving a speech that was in the form of a letter directed to his Bobbi. He expressed how, on October 7th, he “learned that humans are truly capable of evil”; even after the holocaust. After Rabbi Perl’s heartfelt speech, the ceremony continued with candle lighting, in memory of those who heartbreakingly died in the attack, and Kel Malei, a prayer for the soul of a person who has passed away.
Following the grief section was the resilience part of the event where students from different grades gave speeches about some of the families of the victims. Arielle Gad, a 10th grader, gave a speech on Iris Chaim, a mother of one of the IDF soldiers who was accidentally killed by other soldiers and her journey with dealing with the loss of her beloved son. Arielle describes that “when Dr. Stone gave me the speech, I read it and I didn’t know how I would present it.” At the end, the way the mother acted with the soldiers who accidentally killed her son inspired Arielle. It taught her to be compassionate with others and always see the good in people. Julia, 10th grade, also describes how not only did “having students read some of the speeches of October 7 helped them connect more to those stories” but it also “helped other kids understand and experience some of the horrific events that took place on that day.”
During the last section, which was hope, we saw Rabbi Albo’s interview with the DJ who was playing at the Nova Festival. Also we watched an Am Echad Video, and we sang the Hatikvah together as a school concluding the event. Although this event lasted only one hour, it took a lot more effort to plan it since, according to Dr. Stone, an assembly like this “had never been done before so there is not a “playbook’’to follow or something to reference to.” The judaics team had to “remember that we are all still in it and it’s still fresh and people are still dealing with the pain.” Despite how tough the event was to plan and the fact that this is a very sensitive topic, the event not only commemorated the October 7 events, but it also promoted a feeling of unity, hope and resilience. Ending the assembly with the Hatikvah, it made clear that, although we may still be mourning, as the jewish community we are still strong and as long as we stay together, have hope, and fight for what is right, we will continue to push forward.
