To help Jewish youth process the upcoming two-year anniversary of October 7, Moving Traditions has released a new curricular session to help teens mark the moment. We are continuing to develop new materials to support parents and educators as this crisis continues, antisemitism rises, and our teens need our support.
Many of our teens are full of questions and conflicting feelings around their relationship to Israel as the conflict continues. For you and the teens in your life, we offer you an excerpt of that curricular material, Yahrzeit: Remembering October 7th. This excerpt draws on Israeli art as frames for discussion. While it can be hard to find the time in your day, we imagine you doing this with your family, perhaps as you sit down for a meal together.
If you are a partnering educator, access the full curricular session in the Curriculum Portal.
Personal Experiences
SAY:
I’m going to say several statements and ask you to rate your agreement or disagreement with them. There is no right or wrong answer.
READ several of the prompts below. After each one, INVITE your teens to explain their rating. REMIND yourself and your teens of the ground rules as necessary – no politics, and no need to respond to a comment you disagree with.
Since October 7th . . .
- I have felt comfortable being visibly Jewish in public (wearing a star of David, or clothing with Jewish symbols on it).
- I’ve avoided someone or stopped following someone on social media because of their views about Israel, Jews, or the war.
- I’ve felt solidarity (a feeling of “we’re in this together”) with other Jews.
- I’ve questioned whether my Jewish community accepts me for my views.
- I’ve felt worried or upset about what is happening in Israel, Gaza, or the Middle East.
- My feelings towards Israel have changed in some way.
Israeli Experiences
SAY:
Thank you for sharing your responses. I wanted to start with our experiences as this is an event that has affected Jews around the world, but now we’re going to turn our attention to what exactly happened and how it affected Israelis.
As they say, “an image is worth a thousand words.” We’re going to encounter Israeli art made after October 7th that will first help us learn the story of what happened on that day, and second, it will help us understand how this event has affected Israeli and Jewish life.
DISPLAY the following image.
Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi, Simchat Torah, 2023 (source) | Info about artist from The Artist Whose Oct. 7 Series ‘Attracts Fire’
ASK:
- What’s going on in this picture?
- What do you see that makes you say that?
- What more can you find?
Once your teens have looked at the image closely and responded to the questions, READ or SUMMARIZE the information below in your own words.
SAY:
Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi is a Ukrainian-Israeli painter. Like many Israelis, she is secular (meaning she does not follow a traditional Jewish lifestyle), but feels connected to Jewish culture. On the morning of October 7th, she was living in Tel Aviv, anticipating the city’s street parades in honor of Simchat Torah, a holiday at the end of Sukkot which marks a new cycle of Torah reading. While many traditional Jews in Israel and around the world had their phones off for the holiday, Zoya did not. Therefore, early in the morning, just after the attack started, she began to hear news reports that a major terrorist attack was unfolding in Southern Israel, interrupting the holiday and cancelling all celebrations. Slowly, the horrifying details came to light: thousands of heavily armed Hamas fighters and Gazan civilians had breached the border, once thought impossible, murdered 1,200 Israelis, and kidnapped 240 more.
Zoya, a painter at heart, immediately began to process the tragedy by creating art. This image shows a Simchat Torah parade taking place with flames in the background. People in plain clothes carry military weapons, a nod to the country’s mandatory military service for all citizens and its large population of ‘reservists’ – people who are done with their military service but are ready to be called back in a time of crisis.
Notice the old man in the striped shirt, evoking Holocaust imagery. The attack on October 7th was the worst loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Jews around the world were shocked that such a massive attack could happen in Israel, a country founded as a safe haven for Jews, where the world’s only Jewish army was supposed to protect us.
Although many Israelis abroad rushed back home to be with loved ones, or to serve their country in a time of need, many other Israelis felt unsafe and left. The painter of this image was one of them. The day after October 7th, she left the country with her young daughter, going to Germany where they had family. About 80,000 [source] Israelis are estimated to have left during the crisis, with many Israeli teens temporarily enrolling in American high schools. It was one of the few times in Israeli history that more people left the country in a year than arrived as new immigrants.
Optional: Discussion Prompts
Discuss:
- When did you first hear about October 7th? What did you hear, and what was your reaction?
- Have you felt less safe as a Jew since October 7th? Why or why not?
- If you had to give this image a title, what would it be? Why?
This was an excerpt. The full session includes seven images with descriptions recounting the attack and exploring participants’ reactions to the original event as well as the years since; a hevruta (text study in pairs) activity analyzing a poem by an Israeli author which explores themes of hope; profiles of teen victims; a memorial craft connected to Simchat Torah; and a recitation of Kaddish.