Jewish and pro-Palestinian organizations remembered those killed during and since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and Palestine at commemorations this week.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas killed 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages during an attack in southern Israel. Most of these hostages have since been released or had their remains returned to Israel through ceasefire agreements. Currently, 20 hostages of the remaining 48 held by Hamas are believed to be alive.
Since the attack two years ago, over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing conflict, and 90% of the population has been displaced. A UN commission recently concluded that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Jewish student organizations, including the Student Coalition for Israel at Pitt, Pitt’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority and Chabad at Pitt held an event on Oct. 6 to remember those killed and taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack. Students gathered on the William Pitt Union lawn, lit candles and observed a moment of silence for those killed on Oct. 7.
A Jewish Agency Fellow for Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh detailed what happened Oct. 7 in their opening remarks.
“On that day, when Shabbat was still going on, it was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” the fellow said.
The fellow said that the reasoning behind this commemoration was to remember those who died.
“Remember those who were killed, and pray for the safe recovery of our brothers and sisters still [kept] alive,” the fellow said.
Tamar Franbuch, a senior psychology major and president of the Student Coalition for Israel at Pitt, discussed her motivations for organizing this event.
“Today’s event is not a political event,” she said. “Today’s event is just a memorial to remember those that we lost in the terrorist attack [on] Oct. 7, 2023.”
Franbuch said the events on and after Oct. 7 have affected her personally since she knew some of the hostages.
“I know people who have passed,” she said. “I knew somebody who was taken hostage, and she was released after over a year.”
Franbuch said she wants the ongoing conflict in Israel-Gaza to end.
“The majority of my college experience has been set in a time of war,” Franbuch said. “I would love for the war to end.”
Zach Zalvan, a sophomore political science major, also said he knew someone who was taken hostage.
“He did an Israel trip that I [also] did,” Zalvan said. “I feel a little connected that way.”
Zalvan said this commemoration serves as a reminder of the humanity of those killed.
“It’s important to remember that they are people,” Zalvan said.
On Oct. 7, students and community members gathered to remember those killed in Gaza at an interfaith vigil at the Vietnam Veteran Pavilion in Schenley Park. Pro-Palestinian groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Pittsburgh Palestine Coalition organized the event.
This is the second vigil of its kind, commemorating another year of the war. Speakers from varying faiths came together to tell their stories, voice their opinions and lead prayers.
Karim Alshurafa, a Palestinian community member, spoke at the vigil last year about his family in Gaza. He read the names of 34 family members killed.
“They deserve for their names to be mentioned [today], but I can’t take reading their names one by one, and I’m sorry for not doing that. I feel the responsibility to do that, but it’s just way too painful,” Alshurafa said.
Alshurafa continued on to express the larger purpose of the vigil.
“We come together to pay our respects, but also to never forget. Our activism, our vigils and our prayers are all acts of resistance, not only to oppression, but to despair,” Alshurafa said.
Chad Collins, a pastor for Valley View Presbyterian Church in Garfield, believes attendees at the vigil can gain inspiration and strength from being together.
“I’m learning more about the importance and the significance of community, and not just any old community, but a community that binds themselves alike in different faiths and resists what is wrong,” Collins said.
Collins further highlighted the roles of student organizations in the movement in his speech.
“If we’re looking for inspiration tonight, we can look no further than our Students for Justice in Palestine and all that they have been through this past year, and all that they’re doing. They carry the light and the torch of resistance against injustice here in Pittsburgh, on this campus and throughout,” Collins said.
At the event organized by Jewish student organizations, Eli Diringer, a first-year chemistry major in attendance, discussed how the two-year mark of Oct. 7 impacted him.
“It still kind of hits deep,” Diringer said. “Two years ago, 1,200 of my Jewish brothers and sisters were brutally murdered.”
Diringer also expressed his concerns for the growing trend of antisemitism in the U.S.
“We’re still facing a lot of hatred, and it’s not because of what happened [on Oct. 7],” Diringer said. “The antisemitism in the U.S. especially has gotten really bad.”
Diringer said he hopes these commemorations for Oct. 7 will continue in the future.
“Twenty-four years later, we still commemorate 9/11, and I think that’s what we should be doing,” Diringer said.
Colin Culber, a sophomore rehabilitation science major, cited his reason for attending the event.
“I’m just here to further stand in solidarity with the victims of Oct. 7,” Culber said.
Culber said he hopes people remember the events of Oct. 7 and continue to commemorate it. He also said it was important to find community at the event.
“I wish that this brings light to the world and actually sheds love and compassion instead of more evil,” Culber said.
At the vigil for Gaza, Aaron Kuhn, a home improvement contractor from the North Side also spoke, further reflecting on the losses caused by the war and how he approaches them through his Jewish faith.
“For every single person that’s killed, there’s a chain of potential events that gets cut short. A living person can create joy and beauty in the world and in the hearts of those who they know,” Kuhn said. “Our collective conscience as Jews and Muslims and Christians brings us here tonight to hold some time to reflect on the tragedy of following our brothers and sisters in Gaza.”
Marcie Haley, a North Side resident in attendance at the vigil for Gaza, said she has committed much of her life to supporting Palestine through Jewish Voice for Peace.
“I was [in Palestine] years and years ago, and it’s just very sad,” Haley said. “I’ve been involved for 40 years. They want you to think that it just started on Oct. 7, but Israel’s been doing this for over 100 years.”
An SJP board member offered a student perspective on the event, emphasizing a call to change.
“The one ask that Palestinians have to the world right now is to keep talking about this, is to keep fighting for this, to not have us get tired. Maybe a year ago, sympathy would have been enough. But after two years, sympathy is nowhere close to enough. Palestine needs action,” the board member said.
The board member closed by discussing their hopes for the future.
“I can’t feel sadness anymore without also feeling an insurmountable feeling of guilt and of compellence that we need to be doing more for Palestine,” the board member said. “But just ask yourself for a minute — is this the kind of world that you want to live in? I don’t want to be doing this again in another year.”
The Jewish Agency Fellow who delivered opening remarks at the Oct. 6 commemoration requested that their name be removed from this article for privacy reasons. All attributions have been updated by TPN editors to reflect this request.