October 7th Massacre Witness Journey: What Is Our Role As A Witness?

We are not short of evidence posted online, constantly scrolling past the thousands of stories, images, and videos capturing some of the horror that ensued on October 7th, including the evidence posted by the perpetrators themselves. Yet, it does not take long to find examples of denial by those who hate us. If a witness journey will make little impact on those who hate us, is there any point in witnessing at all? What should we expect from such a journey? What does it mean to be a witness of October 7 if it did not happen to you? How can we incorporate October 7 memory into the long history of Jewish persecutions? What patterns of response, leadership and prevention should we learn? How can we avoid parallels with the Holocaust, in spite of the natural associations drawn from the shared experience? How can we talk about the atrocity within a space of calm, and not avoid the uncomfortable discussions? What is the lesson you want today’s Jews to learn from October