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The Voice of the Lehigh Valley Jewish Community
www.jewishlehighvalley.org
| Issue No. 476 | May 2024 | Nissan/Iyar 5784 AWARD-WINNING PUBLICATION EST. 1977
Scavenger hunt has kids tracking down clues at PJ Library Passover party. p10
View photos from an Israeli exhibit of optimistic scenes from the post10/7 Gaza area, as well as other features, on our Celebrating Israel pages. p22-25
FROM THE DESK OF JERI ZIMMERMAN p3 LVJF TRIBUTES p9 JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER p12-13 JEWISH DAY SCHOOL p14 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE p15 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p27
Yom HaZikaron event to feature 10/7 tie to community By Carl Zebrowski Editor
“Walking around Kibbutz Holit more than 100 days after the murderous terrorist attack on October 7, you can still see evidence of lives that were suddenly cut short,” reads a draft of the presentation Lee Kestecher Solomon was preparing for the Yom HaZikaron ceremony to be held in the JCC Kline Auditorium on Monday, May 13. “Blooming wild gardens, books waiting for readers next to their beds, and an endless silence creeping between the houses, whose walls are pierced by bullet marks.” The ceremony for Israel’s
Memorial Day will feature the stories of victims of the Hamas massacre, as well as stories of fallen Israel Defense Forces soldiers and victims of other acts of terrorism. Solomon, director of community engagement for the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley and organizer of the remembrance event, lived in Kibbutz Holit, near the Gaza border, some years ago, and she knew some of the Israelis killed by Hamas terrorists. One of those was Hayim Katsman, a 32-year-old who had just earned a doctorate from the University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies in 2021. His particular interest was the intersection of religions
in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Hamas killed Katsman when he was trying to help a neighbor during the attack. In a troubling instance of dark irony, Katsman was the guy friends knew as dedicated to the ideal of Israelis and Palestinians living together in harmony. He often volunteered to help either who needed it. “He would drive Gazans from Gaza into Israel for doctors’ appointments,” Solomon said. There will be many prayers said during the event. Songs will be sung, including a video duo with a young Israeli paramedic who was killed on October 7 and the popular Israeli band Knesiay-
at HaSechel. The paramedic recorded herself singing the Israeli song “Nothing Will Hurt Me,” written for victims of a 1990s attack, and the band put her video together with their own version of the song in a new video after she was gone. Solomon’s husband, Ariel, director of Hebrew and Judaics at the Jewish Day School, will tell the story of Katsman. Eric Lightman, executive director of the JCC, will share his experiences from and thoughts about his trip to Hayim Katsman z”l. Israel in February. Seventhshirt to show our unity as a grader Alexis Gabay-Ratner community. Registration is will sing. required. Visit jewishlehighThe ceremony is from valley.regfox.com/yom-hazi6:30 to 8 p.m. Everyone is karon-2024. encouraged to wear a white
10/7 through the eyes of music festival-goers
Lehigh Valley audience struggles through harrowing yet important documentary By Carl Zebrowski Editor The opening imagery of the documentary “Supernova” includes a crowd of dancing teens and 20- and 30-somethings in front of a stage, arms extended in the air, heads and hands bobbing in rhythm to the live music. You hear the overdubbed voice of a woman talking in Hebrew on her cell phone. “We’re here with some friends,” she says. Her name is Maya Regev. “Don’t worry, Dad.” “What is that place called, where you’re at?” her dad asks. She’s at the Nova Music
Festival in southern Israel on the Shabbat morning of October 7, 2023. But she needs to ask someone for the specific location. “Re’im,” she then tells her dad. He’s worried about Maya and her brother, Itay, who are at the festival together. “It’s really, really close to Gaza,” he says. “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre” premiered in the United States early this year. The film covers 24 hours that begin with 3,500 most young Israelis gathering to listen and dance to live bands before Hamas launched its now-infamous surprise attack. Dozens of Muhlenberg College students and members of Non-Profit Organization
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the Lehigh Valley Jewish community sat in the Muhlenberg Hillel on April 11 to watch the film, which had premiered in the United States in February. “When I heard that there was an opportunity to organize a viewing of the ‘Supernova’ documentary on campus,” said Leah Kressel, Israel cochair at the Hillel, “I knew immediately that it was crucial to hold a screening for people to watch it.” Its one hour moves along quickly, and as startlingly and jarringly and excruciatingly as you might expect. More so. “The story will speak for itself,” Jeri Zimmerman, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh
Valley, told the audience just before the screening. Federation helped make the event happen. Hamas terrorists killed 365 people in Kibbutz Re’im that day. Hundreds of others were wounded. Forty were kidnapped and taken back to Gaza to be held as hostages along with 200 people from other areas. Tracing the tragedy as it unfolded, the filmmakers edit together footage from cell phones, handheld video cameras, and dash cams—and from both sides: attackers and victims. They talked on camera with festival-goers, first responders, and parents whose children were taken as hostages. Two of the survivors who tell their story on screen spent nine hours hiding a porta-potty, struggling to keep perfectly still and silent. Meanwhile, terrorists with automatic rifles and bombs combed the area looking for festival-goers. Maya Regev spends much of the day just trying to survive—and to find Itay, from whom she got separated. Their father sped to the scene in his car after their phone call. He found out whatever details he could about the situation and implored police and soldiers
to find his kids. The news was good for the Regev family. They survived. Maya and Itay were hospitalized with injuries, but soon were released. The room in the Muhlenberg Hillel was silent when the film ended. The event organizers had prepared for a quiet break during which viewers could recompose themselves. Then, post-film discussion sessions would follow for viewers to open up about their thoughts and emotions. Any talking waited for that time. Later, Danielle Hadge, Leah Kressel’s fellow Israel cochair at the Hillel, said, “Even though for many it was an excruciating film to view, it was extremely important for everyone to be aware and knowledgeable of what truly occurred, the horrific events that happened on October 7.” Ira Blum, director of the Hillel, concluded, “My prayer is that by gathering together, as Jewish life at Muhlenberg and the Lehigh Valley, we find strength and comfort in one another, in our broader Jewish family here, in Israel, and beyond, and ultimately healing and hope.” We are still hopeful for the release of the remaining hostages.