To commemorate the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Hillel Waterloo and Laurier, the AEΠ fraternity, The Rohr Chabad Centre, Waterloo and Laurier students, and Waterloo faculty came together to organize a memorial. At the EC5 foyer and auditorium, hundreds of posters with the faces of victims were displayed, each one telling a story of a life lost or forever changed. As much as this was a memorial, it was also an opportunity for the Jewish community to come together and find strength in each other. 

A year ago, a series of terrorist attacks were launched along the Gaza border by Hamas. The attacks used rocket fire as a cover to invade the southern border of Israel and resulted in around 1,200 individuals killed, 250 people taken hostage, and 5,000 others wounded. To date there are still 100 hostages unaccounted for. In retaliation, Israel has bombed and occupied Palestine resulting in over 40,000 deaths over the past year, with the conflict now spreading to involve Lebanon and Iran. 

The event, attended by over 100 people,  began with a Prayer for Lost Lives, read by members of the AEΠ in Hebrew and in English. Rabbi Moshe Goldman followed this with some affirmations and teachings from the Torah for the audience. Cards with individualized prayers from Torah passages were also handed out to participants to be read out in unison as a petition for the safe return of the remaining hostages. “We need to send them home, not bring them home,” Goldman said. “They need to be released… [and] come home.”

A video containing photographs of the extensive destruction and suffering brought about by the war played as part of the commemorations. In it, families are seen collapsing to the floor in unimaginable grief. Buildings that once stood tall are now shown to be nothing but exposed rebar and rubble. Shots of funerals, coffins, and graves take up more than half of the runtime.

In the face of seemingly never-ending tragedy, Noa Boulakia, a biomedical engineering student and speaker at the event, reassured the audience that they “were not alone.” If they were to just look around the auditorium, they would find others they could lean on. She reiterated that “no matter how strong the voices of hate are, they will never drown out the strength of [their] resolve.”

Rabbi Goldman concluded with a solemn reflection on the event and its significance. He recalled Nazi Germany and Jewish slavery in Egypt as precedents for how the Jewish community has historically memorialized tragedy. Invariably, he said, the focus is never on the anguish alone but rather on the enduring spirit of survival, unity, and hope. “If we take the Greek approach to tragedy, it will suffocate us, no offense to the Greeks,” he said. “But… if we focus on the good even though we have a lot to mourn… then we have a future.”