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The beauty of tall trees decorated with yellow ribbons offset the horror of the exhibits set up in their shade at the October 7 Square exhibition in Houghton on 6 to 8 October. The exhibition, put together by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies in collaboration with local schools, community members and organisations, was held to commemorate the one year anniversary of the 7 October devastation. The display presented a tapestry of stories depicting the atrocities of 7 October 2023 – a day which has been called the ‘September 11’ of Israel.

It was modeled on the display at Hostage Square Tel Aviv. “In Tel Aviv, people come, they bring exhibits and displays to honour those who lost their lives or suffered through the ordeal, and to give a voice to the hostages still being held captive,” said Wendy Kahn, National Director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.

Present at the event to share her story was Lotus Lahav, a former resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where one in four people never returned after 7 October, either murdered or taken hostage.

“On the day my life changed forever, I woke up at 6.30am to the sound of a bomb alert,” said Lahav. “I entered the safe room with my mom. Every house in the kibbutz has one, as being bombed is not an unusual experience. However, after the first explosions there was shooting and we started to realise something bad was happening.” She said that the terrorists were going from house to house. “We don’t lock doors at the kibbutz. In our thinking, ‘The kibbutz is safe’,” she said.

Messages were exchanged on the Kibbutz Whatsapp group. “They began with how terrorists were there, and then developed into people begging for help. Eventually, the messages were asking how to put an end to bleeding. Then people started to post how they had lost contact with loved ones.”

Terrified, she and her mom sought advice on securing the safe room and a picture posted on the group by a friend, advised the two women to tie two brooms together and put them across the door. “We didn’t have brooms, and in a panic, eventually found a part of a vacuum cleaner and a rowing oar, putting them across the door. I had doubted these would work and when we heard what sounded like a big group of terrorists enter, shooting and yelling in Arabic, I had believed that that was it.” She and her mom hid beneath a table in the safe room in the dark, holding hands. “I told her I loved her and I had enjoyed my 22 years and we said our ‘good byes’.”

However, the vacuum and the rowing oar held and the terrorists, though returning to their house five times that day, could not get into the safe room. Lahav and her mom stayed silent in the darkness for 12 hours before the IDF came to their rescue.

They were then taken to the house of a friend, who they later found out had been taken hostage. “So many were missing. People just weren’t there. Friends, parents of friends, neighbours – their absence was notable.” Eventually, the survivors from the kibbutz were taken to a kindergarten where they took refuge for two days, before being given lodging at a hotel for two months, where they also received donations as their homes had been desecrated and many of them, woken up fairly early in the morning, had just their pajamas as clothes and were without necessities.

Lahav’s story ended with questions, as many of the other testimonies in the October 7 Square exhibition did. What of the hostages? What of those whose lives have been viciously violated and traumatised by the day and the tragic loss? Will things ever be the same again?

Kahn explained: “Most people in our community either know someone who was murdered or was taken hostage, or who was injured or impacted on the day.”

While Lahav was alive to share her story, many of the stories on the day were told on behalf of those no longer present to share their ordeal. Many of these horrific stories were presented as photos; others as print-out textual narratives; and then others, as posters nailed to the trees, showing heart-breaking WhatsApp messages exchanged during the massacre ordeals.

Wendy explained these stories were ‘frightening, sobering and real’. In a line-up of text narratives, with accompanying family photos, there was a couple who was killed in front of their three children, who were then burned alive. Another story was of twin babies who were taken captive in the kibbutz and whose cries were used to coerce kibbutz residents to come out of hiding. They were shot as they left the refuge of their hide-outs to attempt to help the infants.

There was the family of four who returned from their son’s birthday party who were pulled over at the side of the road by terrorists. The little boy was shot first and then the parents. Forensic specialists were needed to identify the daughter, who was found a little away from the site of the tragedy, violated beyond recognition. Her untold story was among the tapestry of sobering stories communicated on the day.

Then there were the stories of sexual violation and the chilling testimonies shown by the shoes collected from the victims of the Nova Festival, which had to be returned to their families and which were piled up in a room by forensic workers.

Two small garden gnomes with bright red hair stood beneath a tree, which Wendy explained were replicas of the garden gnomes from the property of the Bibas family. She visited the Bibas home in Israel recently and was deeply touched by the plight of the family. The two red-headed children – one only four and the other just a baby at the time of their kidnapping –  have become a symbol of the atrocities of 7 October.

“Each of us remembers where we were on 7 October,” she said. “I think you will see members of our community walking around here and you will see that they have red eyes. A lot of crying has happened here because we haven’t really had a chance to come to terms with what has taken place.”

The ‘living’ exhibition, with its interactive displays, also showed what it looked like in the buildings after the Hamas had left, and visitors to the exhibition walked through the rubble, where photos of those massacred on the day were displayed and loving words offered for them in honour of their memory. There was a walkway of 101 trees showing the faces of the remaining 101 hostages, for whom there is still hope of return.

However difficult the stories were to tell, Lahav and the event organisers believe the sharing of stories gives a voice to those who for so many reasons have not been able to speak for themselves. Determined the sharing of the testimonies will continue, the Base, JNFSA (Jewish National Fund South Africa), and the Beleli and Jassinowsky families have started an initiative to bring out released hostages and massacre survivors to the country to offer them rest and give them the chance to tell the truth of their experiences.

And it would seem it’s not just the local Jewish community’s hearts who have been touched by accounts from the day. Present at the exhibition on Monday was a group of members from the South African Jerusalem Prayer Network organisation. They held hands with Jewish residents to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Chaplain Conney Radebe explained that they were determined to be there on 7 October as a display of unity with the Jewish community. As the stories are told, and as tears are shed, Chaplain Radebe explained: “We cry alongside the local Jewish community today.”

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Date published: 11/10/2024

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