Aiming for resurrection and hope, southern kibbutz plans Oct. 7 memorial for Simhat Torah
Organizers of ceremony see the Gaza border community of Yad Mordechai as a symbol ‘that represents the might of the people’
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, one of the Gaza-border communities attacked on October 7, has announced it will host an observance of the anniversary of the Hamas massacre on October 24, as an alternative to the official state ceremony.
That date will this year coincide with Tishrei 22 on the Jewish calendar, Simhat Torah — the holiday that last year fell on October 7, when the terrorist atrocities were carried out.
The kibbutz is not the only one planning an alternative to the official state memorial ceremony for the October 7 Hamas massacre. Many communities in the south have refused to take part in that event.
Families of hostages and other victims of October 7 have fumed at the government’s decision to charge firebrand Transportation Minister Miri Regev with organizing the state event. One major alternative event is being held in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park on October 7, with 40,000 tickets claimed within hours of being publicized.
There will be many events held on October 7 and throughout the following weeks, said events producer Hemi Sal, who is organizing the Yad Mordechai ceremony.
The Yad Mordechai ceremony is seen as a kind of closing event to the period of mourning that will begin on October 7, and is an important part of “putting this place back together,” said Omri Perry, Yad Mordechai’s director. “We need to remember the fallen and speak about resurrection and to offer hope.”
All of the local communities in the area are being invited to the Yad Mordechai ceremony, as well as families of the hostages and those who lost loved ones on October 7 and during the ongoing war.
The October 24 memorial evening will be held overlooking the fields where Hamas terrorists tried to infiltrate Yad Mordechai on October 7 and were repulsed by the kibbutz security team, near the water tower destroyed by the Egyptian army in May 1948, when the kibbutz was also attacked.
“We’re doing it in Yad Mordechai because the kibbutz is a symbol,” said Sal. “This is a kibbutz where people were able to move back home, where no one was killed and that represents the might of the people, that they are a kind of resource to the Gaza envelope region.”
Many of Yad Mordechai’s 950 residents moved back in March, followed by others during the summer, said kibbutz director Perry, who heads the emergency squad that stopped the terrorists on October 7.
In May, as in previous years, the kibbutz hosted a televised ceremony to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Memorial Day.
Yad Mordechai is situated 2.5 kilometers from the border with Gaza, and the Memorial Day event was held during rocket fire from Gaza, said Sal.
“I don’t really know how we did it,” he said.
And yet, it’s what the kibbutz has always done to bring the community back to life during times of trouble, said Perry.
“It was very meaningful in our rehabilitation as a kibbutz and to our neighbors around us,” said Perry. “We understood the symbolism and we know how to be the platform for this kind of event.”
Yad Mordechai was named after Mordechai Anielewicz, one of the commanders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II. A sculpture of Anielewicz created in 1951 by Nathan Rapoport sits in a grove of trees in the center of the kibbutz, next to the historic water tower damaged in 1948, showing a strong young man, dressed like a kibbutznik, a grenade held in his hand.
By positioning the sculpture in front of the war-damaged water tower, Rapoport made a connection between the heroism of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the members of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, who fought the Egyptian army during the War of Independence.
“We’ve always hosted the national ceremonies because we represent the whole story, from the Holocaust to the founding of the State of Israel to the war in 1948 and now it met us in 2023,” said Perry, whose grandfather fought in the 1948 battle at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai. “I did what my grandfather did to bring the kibbutz back.”
The Yad Mordechai event is being called “Kvar Shana,” based on the words of the song “Brother-love” (Camaraderie) by Haim Gouri, written in 1949 about the Negev region, “but it feels like it could have been written in 2024,” said Sal.
Autumn night on the Negev descends,
Lighting up faded stars, oh so softly.
As the breezy hour comes to an end,
Clouds are marching on by, down the roadway.
It’s been a year – we can barely explain
How the time’s passed us by in our fallows.
Yes, a year — and so few here remain
For the many who’ve passed to the shadows.
— Translation by Jason Elbaum with Elli Sacks
The performers at Yad Mordechai on October 24 include singers Ilanit, Amir Dadon, Harel Skaat, Nunu and Shiri Maimon and Israeli band Ethnix, who will sing songs that describe the period, some written by people whose lives were taken on October 7, that offer support and succor, said Sal.
While an audience of 1,500 to 2,000 is anticipated, it’s possible that there will be none at all and the event will only be televised, due to the ongoing security situation. All proceeds will go to the development and rehabilitation of local educational institutions.
Simhat Torah, the Hebrew calendar day of the attack, “won’t be any less hard than October 7,” added Sal. “We decided to host this event because if we don’t, who will?”
