“If you know somebody who was injured, who was killed, who was taken — if you have a member of your family or a friend who is in the army and have been drafted up — raise your hand, please raise your hand,” Zack Bodner, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC, said to a crowd of more than 2,000 people gathered to stand in solidarity with Israel.
Hundreds of people solemnly raised their hands.
“No one is untouched by this,” Bodner said in response. “No one in our community is untouched by this tragedy.”
On Oct. 10, the JCC hosted a South Peninsula community event in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, UnXeptable and nearly 30 other Jewish institutions in Silicon Valley, including synagogues, Hillels, Jewish schools and nonprofits.
Participants at the outdoor evening event were given small Israeli flags, and many brought their own large flags that they raised throughout the night or wore draped over their shoulders.
Nirit Hazan, an Israeli who works at Stanford University’s external relations learning and development department, told the audience about the frightening weekend she and her four siblings endured, as their 86-year-old mother, Tami Halevi, hid alone in her mamad (reinforced safe room) on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, roughly 700 yards from Gaza, while Hamas terrorists murdered and kidnapped Halevi’s neighbors.
After she hid there for nearly 24 hours, Israeli soldiers located Halevi and brought her to an armored bus.
“Shy of 4 a.m. that night, my mother made it to my sister’s home in Jerusalem,” Hazan said. “The trauma that she endured is unimaginable, and yet we feel blessed that she is alive.”
Omer Razon, 26, an Israeli exchange student attending Stanford Law School, understands the trauma. He told J. that three Israel Defense Forces commanders who served with him have been killed, as have two family friends. He found out on social media.
“You always look on the lists to see if you know someone. Another name that you know, another name,” Razon said.
He’s planning to fly back to Israel as soon as he can to serve once again in the IDF. He moved to Palo Alto, his first time in the United States, just last month.
Interspersed between prayers and songs led by synagogue clergy and Israeli singers, local elected officials and Jewish leaders spoke of the community’s resilience and the ways to actively support Israel.
“Tomorrow we will get to work. We will donate, we will call our elected officials, we will set the record straight on social media, we will tell our non-Jewish friends what’s really happening, we will help our kids’ schools make statements of support, and we will invest in the local community so we can stay strong,” Bodner said. “For we are one people.”
Tye Gregory, CEO of JCRC Bay Area, urged everyone to tell the stories of what their families are going through in Israel and to post them on social media “so that the world knows loud and clear the massacre of the Jewish people that has happened in Israel,” he said. “There are those celebrating in the streets of San Francisco, on our college campuses, on social media. Those people support terror, and we will hold them accountable.”
Joy Sisisky, CEO of the Federation, made a call to donate to the Federation’s Israel Emergency Fund, which, in partnership with the Israel Trauma Coalition, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel, is providing money to rebuild damaged infrastructure and address unprecedented trauma, Sisisky said.
“The needs are urgent,” Sisisky said, describing Israelis who need immediate cash assistance for housing, clothing and food, in addition to trauma counseling. New medical emergency personnel require training, “since so many of those killed in the first 48 hours were first responders,” she said.
Other speakers included Marco Sermoneta, the S.F.-based Israel consul general for the Pacific Northwest, state Assemblyman Marc Berman of Palo Alto and state Sen. Josh Becker of Menlo Park.
“We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and we will be the shoulders for those who come after us,” Becker said. “We are a strong and resilient community.”