OPINION: Our Jewish future depends on knowing the present

7th October must be remembered and lessons must be learned, not only of a practical but also of an attitudinal nature. The horrific slaughter must be seared into the memory of the world.

Already in these past weeks, so-called protestors and activists in the West have already begun to deny Hamas’ infiltration into Israel, and its wanton, murderous rampage. Social media, mainstream news, Parliaments, and our streets are awash with denials and dismissals of this act against humanity.

As Jews, we are enjoined, as Moses instructed after Amalek’s attack, to remember and inscribe these atrocities down, to never forget these shocking events. The Talmud conveys to us that “seeing is believing” (Yevamot 65b).

For 20 years, JRoots has facilitated educational trips to the camps in Poland and recorded the eye-witness testimony of hundreds of Holocaust survivors. It took Holocaust deniers decades to surface their vitriolic lies, yet it has taken Hamas sympathisers but hours.  Thus, Jewish Futures brought over Adi Efrat, a survivor of the Kibbutz Be’eri massacre, a lady personally captured and held by Hamas terrorists, to England in order to tell her story to over 2000 people in person as well as to the national and Jewish media, in order to see and remember the 7th October.

Adi opened up, in graphic detail, to journalists from The Times, The Daily Telegraph and others, telling how, after being used as a human shield in a gunfight, at one point, she was alone with fifteen Hamas terrorist fighters armed and threatening. She was brutally manhandled and handcuffed from behind, witnessed a mother and her children shot and soaked in their own blood, and spent hours frightened for her life.

Adi’s heart-wrenching testimony needed to be heard and our organisation, I knew, had to help her do so. By ensuring younger generations have met survivors of the Holocaust we have all created millions of bearers of eye-witness testimony. So too must our generation ensure the evil of 7th October 2023 shall be passed on as historical fact, not dumped to the pile of fake news.

Our duty in an all too often morally obfuscated world, is to call out right from wrong, good from bad, virtue from evil. The ongoing nature of current events calls upon us all to stand up and to call out morally indefensible actions, attitudes and pronouncements. We had to combat, to the best of our ability, the anti-Israel hate that has filled our media, campuses, and official institutions.

Yet, like the Biblical commandment to remember Amalek’s ambush, there is also an internal message to be taken from 7th October. At the heart of Jewish Futures is the drive to strengthen and educate young Jews. Jewish identity, thankfully, is often formed through positive acts of engagement: By being involved in charity and welfare, studying ancient wisdom, and introducing spirituality to those who want it. Jewish Futures supports a whole host of organisations, led by talented educators, brimming with these opportunities. Yet, unfortunately, Jewish identity is not always formed by our own positive actions. Sometimes it is forged, as Jews all over the world are experiencing now, by persecution or a sense of isolation. Rav Joseph B Soloveitchik, one of the most esteemed Talmudists and thinkers of modern times, spoke often of these two crucibles of Jewish identity, the destiny we create for ourselves on the one hand, and the fate we are subjected to, on the other.

Adi’s story, and hundreds of others from the southern Kibbutzim, are crucial for us to hear. They make us cognisant of this other, darker side of the millennial reality that is part of our Jewish identity. Like JRoots’ countless trips to Eastern Europe educate, our People remarkably blend tragedy with triumph, great loss and horrific suffering with unity and strength, interweaving, in Rabbi Soloveitchik’s terms, fate with destiny.

Sadly, it can take events such as these to unite our disparate parts, as these times have shown. Adi, in front of the microphones and notepads of the national press, portrayed all that.

She allowed the general public to hear these atrocities first-hand, yet she also reminded us, the Jewish community here, of our Jewish connection, unbounded by geographical distance or differences in language. Her testimony’s impact upon us caused us to remember how we are all connected, brothers and sisters in both times of joy and of tears. Jewish identity and the Jewish future depend on these testimonies.

Adi, we will remember what happened to you, and who we are, thank you.

• Rabbi Naftali Schiff, is CEO of Jewish Futures