Since his rabbi gave it to him last week, Adam Cohn has been carrying in his wallet a memorial card of a soldier — a colonel — who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
"When you are holding the photo of someone who died defending the state of Israel, you feel an extra responsibility," he said, explaining why he has held onto it and brought it with him to the memorial event Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Oak Park. "It’s very important."
The event was one of many remembrances nationwide and in Israel aimed at memorializing the 1,200 people, including children, who died in the attacks three years ago, and also encouraged people to participate in acts of kindness.
For each person who was killed, the Oak Park center gave away a card.
The 27-year-old Huntington Woods resident said he went to Aish Detroit, a Jewish community center, to honor the soldier’s memory and the hundreds of others killed on that day three years ago, but also to mourn for his older sister, Lauren, who recently died from illness.
The attacks, coordinated by Hamas and other militant groups, were carried out on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which for some until that day had been regarded as one of the happier days of the year, and in addition to those who were killed, the attackers also took 251 hostages.
"You look at the faces of the people who were murdered, and it’s an important thing to remember the individuals," Rabbi Simcha Tolwin, the center’s director, told the Free Press. "We’re taking it from the big picture and to make it personal."
Bonds between U.S. and Israel
Earlier this week, Israel held a national Memorial Day for those killed in the attacks and the soldiers who died in the Gaza war. Two state ceremonies were held in Jerusalem, while dozens of other events unfolded in other cities. On Wednesday, the nation held a minute of silence.
In many ways, the various anniversary events in the United States help illustrate the relationship between Americans and Israelis. In an election year, differing views on foreign policy support have played out in campaigns, including Michigan’s race for U.S. Senate, in which the Democratic candidate is Muslim American.
After the attacks in 2023, then-President Joe Biden decried the "appalling assault" and pledged support, and then he went to Tel Aviv, where he said: "As long as the United States stands — and we will stand forever — we will not let you ever be alone."
Israel’s response to the attacks, however, led to large-scale destruction in Gaza and tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths. According to those studying the events, they have also reshaped the region’s geopolitical, military, and societal landscape.
And while many memorialized the dead and honored survivors in various events from New York to Los Angeles and in Israel each year since the attacks, the remembrances over the years also have been met with protests and counter-demonstrations.
In 2024, police detained at least one person and used chemical spray on others as several hundred people supporting Palestinians marched on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, coming within yards of Jewish students marking the anniversary.
This year is the first anniversary since the United States — along with Israel — went to war with Iran, a conflict that has become increasingly unpopular in America and abroad and that plunged the world into a global energy crisis as access to oil has been restricted.
Bringing light into the world
In Oak Park, the Aish Detroit invited the public to join in the memorial — from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. — not just to remember the lives lost but also to participate in hands-on chesed projects to benefit people throughout the community, the organization said, to "transform remembrance into kindness and bring more light into the world."
Chesed, Hebrew for kindness, refers to acts of kindness performed for the dead in Judaism. The projects included tying blankets for hospitalized children, packing toiletries for families in shelters and preparing food donations for local kosher food programs.
This year, Michigan Hillel is also holding commemoration events at the University of Michigan’s central campus Diag. The group plans to honor the lives of those killed by singing songs of comfort and peace and laying out orange flowers.
And on Wednesday, the Jewish Federation is planning to host photographer and storyteller Erez Kaganovich from Israel, who will introduce his exhibit, Humans of October 7, in Ann Arbor, which, the group said, shows the "stories of Israelis who stood up against terrorism."
Oct. 7 and 9/11 comparisons
Some, like Tolwin, who was living in New York on 9/11 when those attacks occurred, see some similarities between them.
Michael Froman, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, recently wrote in an essay published by the nonpartisan think tank that as Oct. 7 approached, he found himself reflecting on the recent 25th anniversary events of 9/11.
"A powerful country was brutally and barbarically attacked by terrorists who targeted and killed over one thousand civilians," he concluded. "Seeking justice for those attacks and safety for its people, the country went to war against the terrorist organization and the network that supported it."
Froman also pointed out that soon after came less clarity, with "a mix of hazy intelligence, the fog of war, and mission creep drew the country into a quagmire of conflict, with broad implications for its security, politics, and place in the world."
He added that, in the last three years, the region has been transformed by conflict and war.
"Israel has the opportunity to learn from U.S. experiences in the Middle East — and it doesn’t have to wait twenty-five years to do so," Froman concluded, adding that anniversaries also "are opportunities to look forward, not just backward."
And that, too, Tolwin said, was part of the Oct. 7 event in Oak Park.
"The Jewish people are very good at looking ahead and looking forward," he explained, adding they survived genocide. "October 7 reminds us that life continues. And it also reminds us to never lose track of the right and wrong in this world."
Reporter Niraj Warikoo contributed to this report. Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jewish groups mark 3-year anniversary of deadly Oct. 7 attacks
