10/08/2026
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a meaningful evening in remembrance of October 7.
Together, we created a space to share powerful stories and witness moving artistic expressions. The ANU - Museum of the Jewish People exhibition will remain on display through October 22.
We invite you to read CEO Zack Bodner's speech from the event:
It’s been three years since that horrific day of October 7, and I find myself thinking about the five stages of grief.
We’re supposed to move from denial to anger to bargaining to depression and, eventually, to acceptance. But I still haven’t been able to get through them.
I still find myself back at the beginning, often in disbelief that the massacre of October 7 happened. And, if I’m being really honest, I find myself spending a lot of time in anger.
Of course, I am angry at the people who perpetrated the atrocities and those who enabled them. But I’m also enraged at so much of what has happened since then; at the explosion of antisemitism around the world; at those who continue to blame Israel and Jews for the massacre committed against us, turning the victims into the villains.
And yes, I’m often angry at people within our own community who have embraced anti-Zionism, and have made it easier for Jew-haters to succeed.
But I know I cannot live forever in anger. This morning, the Associated Press published a story about survivors of October 7 who are turning their pain into public service: volunteering, helping others, rebuilding their communities.
And I thought: we are seeing the same thing right here. Over the past three years, many across our community have stepped forward. We’ve seen grassroots organizations emerge. We’ve seen regular people advocate, volunteer, educate, give, and simply show up for one another.
So, maybe that is where we go next. Not from anger to acceptance. But from pain to purpose.
Tonight, as we remember those we lost, as we embrace those who survived, and as we hold everyone in our community close, let us look toward the future. Because perhaps the best way we can honor October 7 is by making our community stronger, more purposeful, and more united than it was before.
Am Yisrael Chai.
