Seeing the Light

Stories of Pain, and Hope, From Last Week's State Ceremony Commemorating October 7th

Almost one week ago Israel marked one year since October 7th.

Last week, I shared this clip from a ceremony produced by families of the fallen and the captive.

It took me some time to prepare this clip from the official government memorial ceremony, which gives voice to many different survivors, as well as family members of those who did not survive. Really it needs little introduction, but one thing that strikes me most about this is that everyone involved, from the presenters to the singers to, of course, those sharing their stories, are regular people who were directly affected by that day. It seems that as so many Israelis were directly affected that it wasn’t difficult to the find the right people with the right capabilities and talents to do whatever was needed. (In the families’ ceremony, there was even a special unit soldier who performed a song, with his face covered to hide his identity as is always the case with these elite soldiers.)

As I have shared a lot recently, and with the Sukkot holiday upon us, I don’t plan to post again until October 29. I wish everyone here a truly good new year, a year in which we will be incredibly surprised by the goodness we see all around, and a year in which all of Am Yisrael will return home.