This week, Sinai Temple visited the Nova Exhibition: the site in Los Angeles that replicates the music festival in Israel and the horrific events that took place there on October 7th. The exhibit highlights testimony of Nova festival survivors and is built with recovered tents, sleeping bags, cell phones, backpacks and personal items that victims would never see again. While I went to Israel just weeks after October 7th, I left the Nova Exhibit with a pummeled soul. You hear the voices of twenty year olds all around you and quickly understand, even for the survivors, there is no happy ending. Survivors lost scores of friends and family members and recount the nightmare of the day over and over again. There is no escape.
I was drawn to a video taken by first responders that discovered an enormous amount of dead bodies. Repeatedly a first responder cries, “Please show a sign of life. Give me a sign of life.” He was met with eerie, deafening silence.
I left the exhibit thinking two things: first of all, if you are emotionally able, go to the exhibit and “take home” a person’s story. Even better, bring someone with you. Someone that might not be compelled to learn about the events of October 7th. Show the survivors they are not alone and their nightmares will not be forgotten.
Second, those first responders begged to see signs of life. On October 7th, they were met with none. And yet, today, we can answer their prayers. Uphold your Jewish commitment with signs of life. Live out your Judaism. Let it be a breathing, evolving organism. Whether you light Shabbat candles, attend services, bake challah, join a synagogue or teach yourself how to read Hebrew, don’t let your Jewish spirit wither away. Hamas killed these innocent souls because of their hatred for Jews and anything Jewish. We can fight back against their evil by making our Jewish journeys filled with signs of life. We win when we say, there is nothing in this world that will make me stop being a proud Jew and child of Eretz Israel. Am Yisrael Chai—may you enable our people—the Jewish people and land of Israel to thrive for generations to come.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is senior rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik or on Instagram @rabbiguzik. For more writings, visit Rabbi Guzik’s blog section from Sinai Temple’s website.
