Stanford Jewish and Israeli community honors victims, hostages of Oct. 7 attack

A year after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, community members gathered in Meyer Green bearing Israeli flags and candles to initiate a day of mourning, remembrance and solidarity for the over 1,200 civilians murdered and 251 people taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group.

Empty chairs draped with the portraits and names of the hostages encircled attendees at Meyer Green in an exhibit, “Let Our People Go,” organized by Hillel at Stanford on Monday. Students led Hebrew prayers, punctuated by moments of weeping and silence. 

“We have thought of Oct. 7 every day since, and although we are physically far from Israel, our hearts and prayers have remained there for 365 days,” Senior Rabbi Jessica Kirshner wrote in an email to Hillel on Sunday. 

In the wake of the Hamas surprise attack at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel a year ago — described by many as the darkest day in Jewish history since the end of the Holocaust — the Israeli military launched airstrikes and a ground invasion in Gaza that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, with women and children making up a majority of the victims. An estimated 100 Israelis are still held hostage in Gaza, with 30 presumed to be dead. 

“On Oct. 7, or more precisely, on the night of Oct. 6, I felt the ground was gone from underneath my feet,” Naama Bejerano ’25, an Israeli student said in a speech during the Monday event. “Everything felt unreal, apocalyptic… The way I see the world, the pain I feel and the safety I perceive, have been irreversibly changed.”

During her speech, Bejerano highlighted the story of 20-year-old Naama Levy, whose experience as a hostage taken by Hamas represents an “alternate reality” from her own, she said.

“I hope we can take our collective pain and come together… to support one another, to be present for those who cannot and to continue to care for each other the way we care for ourselves,” Bejerano said. 

The ongoing war represents the deadliest and most enduring conflict between Israelis and Arabs since the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. Despite negotiations for a truce, the war has metastasized to include allies of Israel and Hamas in a regional conflict, marked by Israel’s strikes on Lebanon and attacks from Iran.

Benji Welner ’27, an Israeli American student, spoke during the event and stressed the power of collective memory in the wake of the attack.

“The murdered men and women, the elderly and children, including the stranger and the resident… may Israel remember and mourn the wisdom of the elders, the love of the parents, the innocence of the youth, and the radiance of the children,” he said. 

Since last October, campus disputes over the ensuing carnage have sparked rising tensions between Jewish and Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities. Two recent reports from the University committees on antisemitism and Islamophobia revealed dozens of instances of restricted speech, harassment and intimidation on campus.

Chen Shani, a postdoctoral student from Israel, said during the event that Oct. 7, 2023 “was supposed to be one of the highlights of my Ph.D.,” with two of her papers being accepted that day. Instead of celebrating, Shani “spent the day in bed,” she said.

“The next morning, I couldn’t take it… I needed to be useful, to escape the [pain]. I volunteered fifteen hours a day,” Shani said. “Every night I would walk home alone… on Israel’s busiest streets, now empty, except for me and a few others.” 

Stanford Department for Public Safety officers were stationed outside Meyer Green and at Hillel. 

“We did not choose this war,” Gil Werta, Hillel’s Israeli fellow with the Jewish Agency for Israel, said during the event. “We choose life every day over and over again. That is our special power.”

Hillel at Stanford, in partnership with four other local and campus organizations including Stanford Minyan and Chabad, led events intended to commemorate the victims and hostages as human beings, without engaging with the politics of the conflict. 

In addition to two memorial ceremonies held in the afternoon and evening, Hillel sponsored a shared wellness space at Koret Pavilion throughout the day, where community members hosted sessions on Hebrew poetry and guided movement. This week, Hillel will also display an exhibition by the photojournalist Ziv Koren, one of the first photographers to document the attack.

Shalev Biton, a survivor of the Oct. 7 attack, addressed a large audience at Hillel on Monday evening. Biton, who has spoken at college campuses across the U.S., told his story regarding the personal toll of Oct. 7. 

“My [responsibility] is to speak, to let people understand what happened there,” Biton said during the event. “By giving talks and testimonies, I found a purpose… Before, it was a couple of hours that I ran from terrorists in the most horrific moment in my life, and now, I can start to find a reason behind it.” 

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