Hillel at Loyola Holds Vigil for Anniversary of Oct. 7 Attacks on Israel

Hillel at Loyola hosted a vigil Wednesday night recognizing the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which was two days prior.

Several students and guests spoke and led prayers for the roughly 30 attendees. Israeli foods provided by Metro Chicago Hillel Israel Fellow David Oreztaganov were available alongside paintable pictures of six Israeli hostages recently killed in Gaza.

The vigil was hosted by Hillel at Loyola and organized by Hanna Lupovitch, Jewish life associate for Campus Ministry. The event lasted from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 9 in Coffey Hall’s McCormick Lounge.

Lupovitch opened the event by inviting the attendees to stand for one minute of silence. Next, she introduced second-year biomedical engineering major Nadav Snir who spoke about his experience learning of the Oct. 7 attack and learning a close friend of his had been killed, followed by third-year Phoebe Lembeck.

Lembeck spoke about her experiences on campus over the past year as a Jewish student. She recalled hearing from a friend in Israel Oct. 8 last year about another friend who had been taken hostage and not being able to concentrate on work while constantly checking for updates. Her friend was rescued on Oct. 30 by the Israeli military in what Lembeck described as a “true miracle.”

“Coming together to send care packages to IDF soldiers, observing Shabbat with friends and reconnecting with Judaism for the first time, praying with one another for the hostages or even just doing a daily mitzvah,” Lembeck said. “No matter what you do, big or small in matters, it shows that we exist, that we are living.”

Following Lembeck, third-year biochemistry major Andrey Pikovskiy led the group in singing two songs while attendees followed along with informational packets containing the lyrics. Second-year Hillel board member Cate Riely spoke on the lasting grief felt for those lost Oct. 7, despite challenges of antisemitism and politics.

“More than 1,200 people, many of whom had connections to this Loyola Jewish community here on campus, were murdered last year,” Riely said. “If we took a day to remember each soul, it would take us three years and four months.”

Oreztaganov followed up by introducing the main presenter for the event, Israeli speaker and activist Noa Reuveni.

Reuveni recounted her experience of Oct. 7 — two of her closest friends, Gali and Ziv Berman, were taken hostage while she was in California for a delegation of American Jews and Israelis. Reuveni said she was in contact with Ziv Berman up until 9:45 a.m. Israel Daylight Time when she received the last text from him before his phone shut off 20 minutes later.

“Two minutes after that, my parents sent a message in our family group chat saying a rocket hit our house, and then I lose contact with them too,” Reuveni said. “So I have no contact with my parents, I have no contact with Ziv and Gali, and I’m stuck on the other side of the world and all I understand is ‘I need to get to Israel right now.’”

Reuveni said she served over 100 days in the Israeli military after returning as a way of doing something active instead of sitting and waiting for something to happen. During the last two months, Reuveni said she’s been on three speaking tours in the U.S. raising awareness for Ziv and Gali.

Rabbi Nicole Berne led the event in a series of prayers before Oreztaganov closed out the event, reminding the group to grab some free food and thanking the speakers for speaking.

Lupovitch said the vigil was hosted two days after the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 because they didn’t want students to be unable to attend due to the university’s mid semester break Oct. 7-8.