‘May Their Memory Be for a Blessing’

According to the Hebrew calendar, the yahrtzeit for the Hamas massacre will be commemorated on October 24 of this year. That day is Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, a joyous day of dancing, celebrating the primacy of the Torah in Jewish life.

According to last year’s Hebrew calendar, the joy was transformed into the terror and tragedy that we now consecrate as October 7.

A yahrtzeit, the anniversary of an individual’s death, marks the end of the 12-month mourning period. Jewish law dictates that while the day is one of remembrance for those who are no longer with us, it concludes the year of bereavement customs. In the merit of the departed, it is a time to turn grief into action and perpetuate memory through good deeds.

The barbarism of October 7th was so penetrating and its consequences so profound, that it is difficult to imagine how mourning for its victims will ever truly diminish. October 7 will be eternally etched in the collective Jewish mind, rivaling Yom Hashoah in intensity, while not in dimension. It will also be linked to a celebration by the world’s Jew-haters and to an inexplicable explosion in global antisemitism.

Israel has turned a military corner with the approach of this yahrtzeit. Israel’s leaders seem to have emerged from the initial shock of horror and grief that plagued them this past year and led to a slow-moving inertia and doubt in their own prowess. With stunning military maneuvers in Lebanon, however, they have transformed their stupor into concrete action.

Hamas and Hezbollah’s leadership have been degraded and their arsenals of weapons greatly diminished. So much so that Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem has been said to want a ceasefire without conditioning it on a Gaza ceasefire, a long-held demand.

While the threat of Iran looms large and dangers from Israel’s enemies on seven fronts are far from over, Israeli citizens have finally achieved a sense of optimism after close to a year of dread. Tens of thousands of missiles fired at Israel and the displacement of more than 70,000 citizens from the north seem to have prompted Prime Minister Netanyahu to shake off orders from the Biden Harris administration for ceasefires and de-escalation.

Almost a year’s worth of hearing “We respect Israel’s right to defend itself” by world leaders, including the Biden Harris administration, who then turn around and withhold weapons to achieve that aim, has taught Israel the worth of hackneyed phrases in the face of existential danger.

Just a few weeks ago, Vice President Harris endorsed Biden’s “pause” on 2000-pound bombs for Israel, doubled down on the two-state solution and linked her support for Israel’s right to defend itself to its treatment of “innocent Palestinians”.

However, Harris the candidate was quick to trot out her Jewish husband Doug Emhoff to commemorate October 7. He spoke of antisemitism, without once mentioning Hamas and Hezbollah, and planted a pomegranate tree outside the Naval Observatory. Fed with empty platitudes, that tree is likely to wither.

Israel’s leaders have faced a steep learning curve this past year. The realization that they stand alone amidst supposed allies has been long in coming. But better late than never.

At an October 7 event I attended at the United Nations called “Remembrance and Resilience”, I rose in applause with the rest of the audience when Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon affirmed Israel’s resolve to do “whatever it takes” to protect the Jewish state, despite continuous condemnation by the UN and others.

Dannon pledged that “We will ignore the slander and the bias against us and we will not stop until we achieve our goals: we will return the hostages to their homes and destroy those who seek to harm us. The days when the Jewish people stood at the mercy of tyrants are over. The days when we had to rely on foreign powers to protect us are over.”

Knesset Member Ohad Tal, attending an October 7 commemoration by the Israel Heritage Foundation, similarly blasted President Biden for demanding that Israel respond in a “proportionate” manner to Iran’s direct targeting of Israel with over 200 missiles. Tal said, “Be assured, we are not going to listen to them trying to prevent us from protecting our people.”

In contrast to Biden, former President Trump spoke at a Florida event, where he called the Hamas atrocities “an attack on humanity”. He vowed that he would “not allow the Jewish state to be threatened with destruction” and declared, “I will support Israel’s right to win its war on terror—and win it fast.”

Hours before that speech, Trump paid a visit to the gravesite of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, at the Ohel Chabad Lubavitch in New York. He prayed for the release of the hostages in Gaza and was joined by family members of Edan Alexander, one of four American captives still being held by Hamas.

How appropriate to pay respects to the victims of October 7 at the burial site of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In a long ago meeting with Ariel Sharon, the Rebbe said, “It is imperative to stop trying to find favor in the eyes of the gentile nations. This has never helped in the past nor will it help in the future. The indecisiveness of Israel must stop. It is obligatory to uproot the mentality of exile from the Land of Israel.”

As missiles continue to rain down on Tel Aviv and Haifa, Jews in Israel and around the world are emerging from their year of “aveilut”, of mourning. And they emerge with a sense of resilience born of necessity.

There will never be complete consolation for the families of the bereaved, both for the victims of Hamas or for those who died fighting them. The pain is seared too deeply into the collective soul of the Jewish nation. But as we honor this first yahrtzeit, perhaps the most fitting tribute to those who died is to turn memory into action to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

That will be the ultimate fulfillment of “Yehi zichronam Baruch” – “May their memory be for a blessing”.

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