HEADLINES | 4
SENIORS | 18
LET HERE BE LIGHT
THE CELLO STILL SINGS
ASU students embraced Jewish life on campus during a special event
Cellist and author Janet Horvath appears at the Red Rocks Music Festival
OCTOBER 11, 2024 | TISHREI 9, 5785 | VOLUME 77, NUMBER 1
Israeli paralympian and Oct. 7 survivor speaks about resilience SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
O
n Oct. 7, 2023, the day that Hamas launched an attack on Israel killing nearly 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages, Adam Berdichevsky took his wife and three young children into their home’s safe room, armed only with kitchen knives. The family lived in Nir Yitzhak, a kibbutz about two miles from Gaza, where Berdichevsky was born and raised. From within a place of relative safety, he could hear guns and shouts. He knew death was at the door. Four of his close friends were murdered, more were grievously injured and seven civilian residents were kidnapped. One year later, Berdichevsky and his wife, Hila, shared pieces of their tale of survival with the Greater Phoenix Jewish community at a commemoration event, which took place on Monday, Oct. 7, at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus with 700 people in attendance. He was asked to speak by the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP), which hosted the event. Hila Berdichevsky recounted many details of what she and her family went through on that day, tearing up when she told of not knowing whether the text messages with her husband’s family would be the last they exchanged. Berdichevsky also wanted the crowd to know the importance of resiliency. His personal experience with the concept goes even beyond surviving that terrible terrorist attack. On returning to Israel from a vacation with his now-wife in 2007, the couple stopped in Thailand and were on a ferry when a violent storm capsized the boat. In the water, Berdichevsky became entangled in the engine’s motor and propeller. His right leg was cut deeply and most of his left leg was severed. He didn’t give up on himself in a situation where many might have been tempted to. In fact, six years after learning how to maneuver with a prosthetic limb and
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Jewish communal solidarity main takeaway from Oct. 7 commemoration in Scottsdale SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
T
he Israeli flag attached to the back of Max Heeres’ motorcycle flew fast as he pushed his bike to 100 miles per hour, racing down Loop 101 on Monday night. He was intent on gathering with Jews from across the Valley in mourning the horrific Hamas attack on Israel that took place one year ago, resulting in nearly 1,200 deaths and more than 250 hostages. The Israeli-American president of the Lost Tribe of Arizona motorcycle club sped, knowing that “even if anyone wants to run me over, I go by so fast they don’t have time.” His fellow Lost Tribe member, Doug Faigel, joined him for the Oct. 7 commemoration event. The two both came last year when more than Attendees to the Oct. 7 event in Scottsdale were given battery-operated candles. 4,000 people gathered in Scottsdale two COURTESY OF GREGORY COHEN days after the Hamas attack. “There was an outpouring of support last year, but Israel feels more alone right now. We need to show our solidarity,” Faigel told Jewish News. While both men literally wear their Jewish identities on their motorcycle jackets, they needed to mourn with the larger community. SEE COMMEMORATION, PAGE 3
Honoring a peace activist Phoenix-based Lodestar Foundation is offering a challenge grant opportunity in Vivian Silver’s name, a Canadian-Israeli activist for Middle East peace and women’s rights who was murdered by Hamas in the Be’eri kibbutz on Oct. 7, 2023. See page 12. PHOTO COURTESY OF YONATAN ZEIGEN
SEE SPEAKER, PAGE 2
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