Over 200 members of the University community gathered on Monday, Oct. 7 for a memorial event marking one year since Hamas’s attack on Israel and commemorating the 101 hostages still held in Gaza. A second, smaller interfaith vigil the next day grieved “all those killed in the last year in the Middle East,” featuring prayers and poetry from multiple faiths and communities.
The vigils showcased a broad range of reactions to the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, when Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and took 251 hostages, leading to an Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and an expanding conflict that has led to the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians.
The Center for Jewish Life, Chabad, J Street, Tigers for Israel, and B’Artzeinu, in co-sponsorship with the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, hosted the first memorial, which gathered at McCosh 50. The memorial honored Israelis who lost their lives and prayed for the 101 hostages still held captive.
The memorial included students sharing personal stories of friends and acquaintances lost in the Oct. 7 attacks, reflections led by rabbis, and a communal gathering featuring singing on the Frist North Lawn. Yellow ribbon pins and roses, which symbolize the call to bring the hostages home, were handed out to members of the audience.
Davi Frank ’26 and Rabbi Azi Horvitch, a staff member at the CJL, opened the memorial by singing “Gam Ki Elech,” a song composed by Frank’s former teacher Yossi Hershkovitz. Hershkovitz, a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), was killed in battle in northern Gaza in November.
“Simply put, Yossi was an amazing educator and teacher,” Frank said. “The confidence and direction Yossi gave me helped me at every stage and will continue to influence me and hopefully others well into the future,” he continued.
Andrew Zucker ’25 shared memories of 22-year-old Omer Neutra, who was taken hostage by Hamas and whom he knew closely through United Synagogue Youth.
“Omer’s presence in my life, including the way that he has fundamentally shaped my understanding of leadership, has stuck with me so deeply, and I do my best to embody and replicate the style of empathetic and kind leadership each day,” Zucker said.
“All human beings deserve the kind of safety, dignity, and hope for a better future that Omer and so many others have been tragically denied this past year,” he continued.
Rabbi Eitan Webb highlighted the importance of honoring the thousands whose lives were lost Oct. 7 and ensuring that their stories are preserved.
“It is our responsibility, we, who are here, to continue their song and to ensure that their legacy endures,” Webb said. “Remember the thousands who’ve been murdered and injured, the 20,000 and counting rockets and missiles fired, and the hundreds of thousands who are displaced from their homes.”
“Communities are coming together like never before, and strangers are embracing each other with love and support,” Webb said. “We see a community that refuses to give in to despair, who rise with hope, with compassion, and with a fierce commitment to each other.”
On Oct. 8, an interfaith service was held in Firestone Plaza at 7 p.m. to “grieve all those killed in the last year in the Middle East.” The vigil, which was not organized by any specific group on campus, featured prayers and poetry from multiple faiths, including from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Hindu faith groups. Over the course of about half an hour, around 60 people joined in reciting prayers that focused on unity, mourning, and peace.
Emmanuelle Sippy ’25, who spoke at the service and leads the Alliance of Jewish Progressives, emphasized the ways Jewish and Muslim teachings hold similar values about the importance of life.
“We’re sort of guided by a central teaching in at least two of our traditions, Islam and Judaism, that to destroy a single life is akin to destroying the entire universe. Really reckoning with this question, what does it mean to mourn every Palestinian, Israeli, Iranian, immigrant worker’s life who has been killed in the last year,” she told the ‘Prince’ in an interview following the vigil.
None of the speakers identified themselves and attendees respected organizers’ wishes to not bring flags to the vigil.
The somber reflections present at the vigils contrast with the heightened tensions associated with protests of the war in Gaza present at campuses across the country since Oct. 7, which culminated in a series of encampment protests, including the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Princeton. The expanding conflict in the Middle East remains on the minds of students, with demonstrations that marked the spring semester picking back up this fall — though turnout has been markedly lower — including a recent die-in in Firestone Plaza and study-in in Firestone Library.
Among the attendees at the Oct. 8 vigil was Vice President of Student Life W. Rochelle Calhoun, who spoke to the ‘Prince’ about the importance of coming together as a campus community.
“I was just so inspired by the coming together of the students to organize something that was focused on peace and healing,” she told the ‘Prince.’ “In hard moments, we can come together, we can find each other, we can support each other, even when we disagree with each other.”
Sippy echoed the importance of unity, saying, “We were able to come together and gather across our differences, not just despite those differences, but actually trying to see those differences as access points for greater clarity and a kind of renewed ability to mourn.”
Miriam Waldvogel is an associate News editor and the investigations editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Stockton, Calif. and often covers campus activism and University accountability.
Vitus Larrieu is a senior News writer and head Podcast editor for the ‘Prince.’
Sena Chang is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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