October 7th, 2024

Today marks 366 days, one full leap year, since the life-changing terrorist attack in Israel last October 7th. So much has been written, so much has been said, sung, shouted, screamed since then.

What is left to say?

That just as October 7, 2023 caught us all off guard, equally shocking and unexpected has been the year-long twisted reaction from the rest of the world, something none of us could have predicted or imagined was even possible.

That the media is so biased that even today’s New York Times refers to October 7 as the day of the “militant” attack. One year later, murder, torture, rockets, and missiles, and they still can’t say “terrorist.”

That things have become so awful for Jewish people in the Diaspora, that over 31,000(!) people have made Aliyah, immigrating to Israel in the last 366 days.

That bright, well-meaning but dangerously ignorant university students (and their professors!) are headed vociferously and forcefully in the wrong, and very antisemitic, direction. And they are even taking with them some of our well-brought-up but now brainwashed Jewish children.

That in the year 2024, there are Jews in North America who, out of fear, have removed the mezuzahs from their doorposts.

That a local school board considered adding “Nakba Day” to the school calendar. (And for those of you who will be Googling “Nakba”, don’t bother with Wikipedia. Its definition is so slanted and misinformed, it should be removed from the internet. Instead, read Noa Tishby’s book for an easy-to-understand explanation of Nakba and its history.)

That one year later, there are still Israeli hostages being kept in unknown spots in Gaza. That is more than enough time for the littlest ones, if they are still alive, to have become fluent in Arabic by now, able to serve as translators for any other Israeli hostages with them.

That even non-activists (like me) find themselves speaking out, educating themselves and those around them, no longer remaining silent when lies are tossed about disguised as history lessons.

What else is there left to say?

That never in my lifetime have I seen Jewish people so united, staying strong together.

That we are living in a time when we see who our real friends are and, yes, we do have real friends supporting us.

That the heroism and bravery of Israeli soldiers is greater than what any fiction-writer or comic-book artist could come up with. Israel is truly a Nation of Superheroes.

That the determination of Israelis gives us strength and hope, as much as our donations give the Israelis strength and hope.

There is so much to say and there is nothing to say. Maybe we live with a Jew-hating mayor and a complicit prime-minister, but we don’t live in pre-Holocaust Europe. We have Eretz Yisrael. God knows, it cost us a lot to get here but we are here.  And we’re not going anywhere.

Am. Yisrael. Chai. And that’s all there is to say.