Grief

Since 7 October my view on life has changed completely. I have heard various stories about people who were taken hostage, were soldiers or survivors who hid for hours in safe rooms or ran for their lives.

This tragedy has caused tremendous grief and loss and sadness within the Jewish people. I have learned from personal experience that grief forces us to put a wall up in order to be able to move on with our lives, which ultimately makes us bottle up our feelings. When those feelings are eventually released, they can completely destroy us.

I cannot even begin to imagine how all the children who have become orphans, adults who have become widows, and parents who have lost children are going to continue with their lives after the atrocities that they experienced. But what I do know is that from all the stories I have heard, many people’s outlooks are unbelievably positive and forgiving.

One particular story that resonates with me is the story of Yotam, a victim who escaped the tunnels after being in captivity for a number of months. He and a few other hostages were on the run for three days when the Israel Defense Forces mistakenly took them for terrorists and tragically shot them. When the general came to tell Yotam’s family, his mother, Irit, said all she wanted to do was go to those soldiers who killed her son and give them a hug and comfort them. To me this is so incredible and admirable that I aspire to have a similar mindset.

“Out of pain emerges a new strength; from the ashes of suffering; we find the seeds of our rebirth.”