Schools mark October 7, though official ceremonies set for later in the month
Many schools hold short assemblies incorporating remembrances of graduates or community members who were killed in initial onslaught or subsequent fighting
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Schools throughout Israel held programs, classes and activities Monday morning to mark the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre, ahead of official ceremonies planned for the end of October by the Education Ministry.
Last week, the ministry announced a series of broad guidelines for commemorating the attack on the 24th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei, which is usually the first day of school following the Sukkot holiday break, in line with a March government policy that inaugurated the official day of remembrance for the massacre.
Because the 24th of Tishrei falls on a Saturday this year, the government and school system will officially commemorate the October 7 events a day later on Sunday, the 25th of Tishrei, or October 27, the notice said.
Because the October 7 date is “completely etched in our consciousness,” the ministry also left open the option of commemorating the massacre on October 7 as well, and “certainly a lot of schools are doing that today,” a ministry official told The Times of Israel.
The guidelines, which include pedagogical material and suggestions on how to approach the difficult subject according to grade level, were to be implemented by individual schools as they saw fit, leading to a lot of variety in the Monday observances.
Many schools held short assemblies in the morning that incorporated remembrances of graduates or community members who were killed on October 7 or in the subsequent fighting.
Some posted on social media images of posters, artworks or other decorations students had created to mark October 7, which saw a Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel in which the invading terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 to Gaza, setting off the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Some schools used student-driven music or dance in their ceremonies, like the Yokne’am School of the Arts, which featured a dance and movement performance that incorporated “human statues.”
Other schools uploaded videos commemorating the fallen. Many emphasized the hoped-for return of hostages in their ceremonies in various ways.
At Noam Eliyahu school, a religious elementary school in the southern city of Netivot, which was attacked by terrorists on October 7, teachers each prepared a special lesson or activity for Monday, principal Naama Bar Ner told The Times of Israel, but a schoolwide ceremony would be held on the official date, October 27.
“We are trying to not do something big, because a lot of the students are fearful,” Bar Ner said, and noted that “half the school” didn’t come on Monday because “they were afraid there would be missiles on October 7.”
Monday morning did see rocket alarms in the south, Tel Aviv, and the center of the country, but there were no reports that school activities were significantly disrupted.
In northern Israel, schools north of Haifa remained closed on Monday, in line with Home Front Command directives.
Israel’s universities, not currently in session, are due to begin the new academic year in early November, but many still held October 7 events on Monday. Bar-Ilan University held a special event to memorialize “the 57 members of the Bar-Ilan community who were murdered or fell in battle,” the university said.
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