By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

It was an October 7 commemoration rather different from last year’s. This one, held on October 16, which marks the 24th of Tishrei, the Hebrew calendar date of the attack, was bittersweet. Last year there wasn’t much sweet. 

A few days before this gathering, the last of the living hostages remaining in Gaza were returned home to Israel. With that, the evening transformed into part solemn remembrance of the October 7 Hamas attacks and part celebration of the uplifting news.

The commemoration event, presented by NextGen of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, began with an exhibit of images that Israeli photojournalist Erez Kaganovitz shot after October 7. The “Humans of October 7th” exhibit built on his previous “Humans” exhibits and the 3,000 people he’s put on film for them, inspired by the “Humans of New York” photoblog and book series that brings together photos of people and places with first-person stories that together provide glimpses into their lives, the places they call home, and their situations. 

Thirty-six of Kaganovitz’s post-October 7 photos were beautifully reproduced and displayed in the JCC Kline Auditorium for the commemoration. Most of the images focused on people, and accompanying each of them was a card with the words of that person telling their October 7 story. There were heroes who risked their lives to rescue people in danger, family members of people killed in the initial attacks, and those with loved ones who were taken hostage.

Chelsea Busch, co-chair of the event along with Lyell Scherline, Gia Jones, and Bill Miner, opened the presentation portion of the evening in the context of the October 7 attacks themselves and the two long years that followed, filled with worry for the hostages and the war as lies and misconceptions spread and antisemitism rose around the world. “For many Jews in Israel and throughout the Diaspora,” she said, “time has stood still.”

Scherline said that Kaganovitz’s photos shined a light on Israelis who stood up to terrorism, Israelis who carried on resolutely through the devastating aftermath. “It shows the incredible resilience of the Jewish people,” he said.

Most of the Lehigh Valley’s rabbis led prayers before Kaganovitz went to the front to speak to the audience and then lead a frank discussion about Israel and what happened there on October 7 and afterward. 

He began with some background. Israel remains a country of striking contrasts, a place where innovation, wide-ranging diversity, and high tension coexist in daily life, he pointed out. “It’s pretty impressive that we are still a democracy,” he said. 

As a veteran television journalist who also served as media advisor to several members of Israel’s Knesset, Kaganovitz is well-versed in the various old-school and newer methods for communicating with larger audiences anywhere in the world. He uses those regularly to provide insight into Israel and its people. 

“I’m going to show the reality as I see it,” he said. “I’m going to show the complexity of Israel.”

He picked a few photos from the exhibit to show on the big screen as he provided backstories. Haim Raanan appeared on screen holding a Nazi-era photo of him with his mother in Budapest, Hungary. 

“As a child living in the Jewish ghetto,” Raanan said, “I didn’t really have any childhood. It was robbed of me by persecution and war. We lived in constant anxiety about how the day will unfold.”

On the morning of the Hamas invasion, terrorists attacked Raanan’s kibbutz. Ten percent of the community was murdered or taken hostage. “He told me October 7 was worse than the Holocaust,” Kaganovitz said.

Which brings up a big debate in the Jewish community, Kaganovitz said. “Can we compare what happened on October 7 to the Holocaust?” he asked. “Can we describe it as a holocaust? It’s a very big debate in Israel.” The intention was similar, he said—to eliminate the Jews—but the scale was very different.

The evening ended on a positive note, which wasn’t too much of a stretch considering the return of the hostages. Kaganovitz said Israelis were looking to the future with hope. “It’s going to take a lot of effort to heal,” he said, “but we’re on the verge of rebuilding our country and rebuilding our society.”

The final words of the presentation came from Jeri Zimmerman, executive director of the Jewish Federation. “Today we do more than just mourn,” she said. “We honor. Even amid sorrow we find reasons for hope. 

“We celebrate the return of hostages. Each life returned is a light rekindled.” 

The photographs will be on display in the right wing hallway of the JCC for the next year.