Survived the Shoah, Repaired at Nova and onto New Life in Ashdod

Photos by Sandra and David Broza

It was a day of death and destruction. An emotionally charged and powerful day this week.
410 days of the war.

Together with 100 ESRA members, on two packed buses, to visit the rural and urban communities along the Gaza border. Bearing witness to the devastating aftermath of the October 7 attack, and the people, memorials and stories.... and the war that still rages amongst us.

Our excellent guide Onnie Schiffmilller said in the bus on the way down, that you never know who you'll meet or what you'll experience at the Nova memorial ...and indeed she was right!

Following the drive past the Gaza border kibbutzim, reliving the stories of that fateful day, when 43 communities were infiltrated - nothing can prepare you for The Nova Music Festival site, now an extensive memorial to 364 innocent victims, who were murdered in a place from where there was no escape.

In the Kibbutz Reim carpark adjacent to the Reim Forest, there's now a poignant memorial site that immortalizes the victims' memories through heartfelt tributes and artistic expressions. A place for reflection and remembrance. There are photos of each victim, their stories, their football scarves or other memorabilia, impromptu seating areas, many Israeli flags and yellow hostage banners and a new grove of trees planted for each of the young souls, cut down that day.

Red anemone sculptures, designed by artists from across Israel, swarm across the ground.
This motif is repeated at many of the memorial sites we visited, intertwining the symbolism of so many lives cut short, with the natural beauty of the area, normally celebrated annually, at the Darom Adom red poppy nature flower festival. The world too has identified red poppies with remembrance since WW1.

And our hearts needed uplifting.
In the midst of all the hurt and pain, we meet Rabbi Beyo, from East Valley JCC, Phoenix Arizona. He's sitting at a fold-up table that's covered with a white Tallit, alongside a Sofer (scribe), Rabbi Druin from Miami. Together with their community, they are completing correcting the final letters of an ancient Sefer Torah. Rabbi Beyo tells a wonderous tale of a Sefer Torah written in the1800's in Czechoslovakia – that survived the Shoah – and found it's unknown way to the basement of a non-Jewish home in Marseille, France. The origin and date of the writing was identified by the unique Ashkenazi Czech scribe style of the time. The community of East Valley JCC purchased and saved the Sefer Torah to have it restored, corrected and donated for a new life for high school students in Ashdod.

We chanced upon their ceremony of the completion of the writing and repair – that they felt was most suited and poignant to be held at the Nova Memorial Site. At a place of such slaughter and devastation – their message was that a Sefer Torah can be saved from the ashes of the Shoah, rehabilitated, repaired – and go on to new young Jewish community life in Ashdod in Israel's south. Visitors that day, from all over Israel and the world, from all different beliefs, there by chance, like us, cried as the ceremony ended with "Hagbahah and Gelilah". They danced and sang "Am Yisrael Chai" as the Torah was paraded in circuits of hope and optimism around the Nova site.

Then under the trees, we were drawn to the sound of mournful singing and sobbing. The number of policemen made us curious, until we understood it was a memorial ceremony for the families of the many police officers murdered at Nova. We joined, expressing our sincerest respects.
So many ceremonies, so many people, so many memories, such an awful year.....

Across the fields where the Nova party-goes ran for their lives, we entered the Migunit - safety shelter - where Aner Shapiro z"l and Hersh Goldin z"l sought refuge. This site, on the "Road of Death" 232, now a haunting memorial, stands in honor of those murdered there. Aner heroically resisted, catching and throwing out seven grenades to save others' lives, before the 8th killed him, while Hersh was captured and taken hostage and tragically murdered in the Gaza tunnels.

From the plethora of Chessed (kindness) outpourings from regular folk this past year - we met the Shuva Brothers, who since that day, put their normal lives on hold, and have been running a 24/7 drop-in station at Shuva junction - supplying soldiers with free food, equipment supplies, pharma goods, uniform, clothes and anything really they need.In the early months of the war, what started as a "stop for coffee table", grew into a recreation and rest area feeding 3,000 soldiers a day for free. Numbers now reach about 1,000 soldiers daily, in the warmest and friendliest setting, serving up too, welcome relief before they enter or exit action in Gaza.

At Tkuma, the "Car Cemetery" hosts the Car Wall of thousands of burnt cars, alongside hundreds of other wrecked vehicles displayed as a memorial to the massacres committed against their owners. The cars were recovered from along Road 232 and the Nova Festival site. Here the Zaka volunteer teams completed their holiest and heartbreaking work of removing all human remains – down to using cotton buds, we were told – to ensure proper Jewish burial for all. Spine chilling to witness too, the terrorists' vehicles up close, alongside burnt-out ambulances or senior citizens minibuses – who were out for a day trip. Each carrying and displaying its own tragic story, with Q code links. Believe me, you've never seen anything in your life so harrowing and terrifying as this car graveyard.

The deeply moving day ended in Sderot, at the landscaped municipal memorial, on the site of the battle and destroyed police station, honoring the 71 lives lost in Sderot that day - police, security personnel, visitors and civilians slain in the streets. The site is built as an open garden and at its focus is the "Pillars of Eternity" monument – 18 columns, 11 meters high, rising into the sky. The quotes that adorn the pillars were chosen with public participation, expressing the faith and hope of Sderot and the Jewish people throughout the ages. The composite wall of memory is built from ruins of the police station, on which the residents of the city are immortalized, one by one. The site reflects the enduring resilience of a city profoundly scarred by tragedy.

We, like the many groups who arrive on buses daily, came to Sderot to hear the incredible story of the events of October 7 and beyond, and be inspired by what is happening in this developing city, against all odds.

The bus was eerily quiet for the journey home......

יהי זכרם ברוך

May the memories of all those who have lost their lives since October 7, be for a blessing.