My Thoughts on the 2nd Anniversary of October 7th

It was 2 years ago today that Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel which claimed the lives of 1200 people while taking 251 people into captivity. Of the 251 people taken hostage (mostly Jews), an estimated 75 have been killed with Hamas still holding the bodies of the dead. Approximately 20 living hostages remain.

As to the release of the hostages under the auspices of President Trump's proposed peace plan, I'll believe it when I see it. Unfortunately, I believe Hamas will run circles around him and his team giving them time to regroup and rearm with the objective of carrying out another October 7th against Israel.

The sad truth is if Hamas does launch another October 7th attack against Israel much of the world will be cheering them on. Indeed, today there was a rally in Philadelphia which included schoolteachers celebrating "Palestinian resistance fighters" and to "honor the martyrs." If these are the people who are responsible for shaping young minds, then G-d help us all. 

The awful truth is that on the day which saw the largest number of Jews slaughtered since the Holocaust, a searing hatred for Jews has been laid bare for all to see. At best, Israel and Hamas are viewed in morally equivalent terms. At worst, Jews are once again being shunned and singled out for derision. The worst is still to come.

It is for these reasons that I do not feel any sense of upliftment when I attended the Nova Exhibition here in Boston over the weekend nor when I went to the Wang Theatre a year ago today for "An Evening of Remembrance and Hope". There is plenty of remembrance but very little hope.

It is quite difficult to sustain hope when there are purportedly civilized people who believe Hamas is on "the right side of history." If one is inclined to believe that Hamas is on the right side of history, then one can only conclude that the same person believes there is no place for Israel in the world, nor for that matter a place for Jews in the world.

Of course, such sentiments have long existed. But those sentiments are sprinting from the margins to the mainstream. If that is the case, then it is only a matter of time before I and members of my family become directly affected by these sentiments. The consequence of these sentiments includes but are not limited to loss of employment, being stripped of civil rights and being subject to violence either by the state or with the state looking the other way resulting in injury or death. Such a development would not only be perilous for the future of Judaism but for the future of democracy.

I wish I could be more optimistic about our state of affairs. But there is now a concerted effort to delegitimize the ADL by both the left (AOC, Zohran Mamdani) and by the right (Elon Musk, Kash Patel). If successful, then such efforts will not stop with the ADL. Of course, violence has been visited upon Jews in D.C., in Boulder, Colorado and in Manchester, UK with numerous other incidents in between. 

For now, I live my day-to-day life which is a good day-to-day life. Yet I carry with me an impending sense of doom which could come crashing down at any moment and once it does it will be too late to do anything about it.