Israel of Grief: My Visit to the Nova Festival Memorial Site
Israel has always been about what we gained. Now post-Oct 7th, it’s complicated
When I visited Poland in Summer 2022, I wrote the following in my journal: “there is just no way around it: to experience Poland is to grapple with loss.” Up until a year after I wrote those words, visiting Israel was the diametric opposite of that experience because the country symbolized everything our people had gained. That is why many Jewish groups combine trips to Poland and Israel. Now for any visitor to the latter post-October 7th, the reality of that profound distinction has shifted in ways both visible and unstated.
First, the most visible aspect: it’s probably the only country in the world right now where the copious Israeli flags hanging from residential balconies and public places do not present a security risk to anyone. It is the only country where you can hang up the images of the dead and missing after the worst massacre on Jews since the Holocaust without any threat to your safety and without the fear that someone will deface them. You’re surrounded by these images, not unlike what one saw in NYC post-9/11. No one here will shame you for this public expression of mourning. The fact that I find that aspect refreshing probably says more about the state of the West than it does about Israel.
What separated the last 80 years of Jewish history from the rest is our ability to defend ourselves. Nowhere is that principle tested more than at the Nova site, where over 400 people were murdered, kidnapped, raped, or otherwise injured over the course of one day. The uniformed armed safety net that everyone here relies on—indeed, the one that most Israelis are required to serve in—experienced a failure of epic proportions. One of the most tragic aspects of it, in my opinion, is that most of the victims were young “free love” types—aka the same people wanted peace with those who took their lives.
Even with a protracted war that shows no signs of ending (and an imminent threat of Iranian missiles as I type these words), life goes on. Tel Aviv still has one of the best beaches in the world, and it’s packed with people and families acting like everything is normal—or maybe just embracing the new normal. People go to work, go out to cafes, and have Shabbat dinner every Friday night. All of these normal activities get punctuated by sirens, which have now become such a common occurrence that many people are simply ignoring them.
One person in my group said he believed that the aftermath of Oct 7th strengthened us because it brought us together as a people. That is false. Oct 7th was a rude awakening of what happens when we stand divided among a world that has shown its felicity at declaring their hate for us openly. It didn’t give us strength; it tested our strength. Did we pass? I didn’t think I would witness such a perverse test on us in my lifetime.
But we march on, despite everything — the copious misinformation, the global divisions seeking to destroy us, the widespread antisemitism in continuation of a tale as old as western civilization itself. Israel lives — wounded and traumatized, maybe stronger, maybe weaker, it’s still here. Even among the sadness that has consumed us all since that awful day, there’s a theme that repeats over and over throughout the memorial site like a quiet prayer: “keep dancing.”
We will dance again—just not today. We boarded our vehicle and left, the faces on each individual memorial growing smaller in the distance as we pulled away en route back home.
Thanks for reading! Normally this is the part where I ask for donations to help support my work. My ask this time: if you were moved by what you just read, please consider a donation to Shuva Brothers. Founded on October 8th, 2023, they are a group of local volunteers providing active duty soldiers and reservists in southern Israel with items like meals, hygiene products, and even massages. They are a tiny operation literally on the side of a rural road, and any support even in the smallest amount makes a tremendous impact. I was blown away when I visited:
Beautiful and sad. The antisemitism in the US is a direct product of the values we’ve allowed to fester in the culture here. Something really disgusting afoot that will eat up civilisation itself, if allowed. Israel is a brave and beautiful country - I’ve visited on vacation. What I don’t understand is why so many Jews in America don’t speak up more! Why so many are instead trying to prove their credentials as progressives while that’s the very movement that wants to erase them….
When we visited Israel during this past winter, we also voted the Gaza envelope and saw with our own eyes what Hamas intended to do . When you see the facts on the ground, you see what animals Hamas are with your own eyes.I highly reccomend One Day in October which tells the stories of those who were attacked and responded on that awful date;