This year, on October 7th, two years after the most unimaginable and horrific massacre of beautiful Jewish lives , I was in Israel. I went to the Nova site that day.

It’s hard to put into words what it felt like. There were hundreds of posters , faces, names, stories. I started reading them, and what broke me was how familiar they all felt. They were people not much older than me , people who reminded me of myself, of my friends. People who went out to dance, to laugh, to celebrate life. I kept thinking… this could’ve been any of us.

Standing there, surrounded by their photos, I realized something that everyone in Israel already knows — there’s no one untouched by October 7th. Everyone knows someone. A friend, a brother, a sister, a cousin, a neighbour, a soldier. The pain runs through the whole country, but so does the undeniable strength.

A few days later, I went to Hostage Square , early in the morning, just as the first hostages were being released. I’ll never forget that moment. It was like the whole nation was holding its breath. People were gathered around screens, praying, crying, singing.

There was immense joy, but it came with heartbreak too. Because even in the relief, everyone was thinking of those who hadn’t yet come home. I remember watching strangers hug like family, saying, “They’re actually coming home.” It was one of the most human, most sacred things I’ve ever witnessed , pain and hope existing in the same heartbeat.

That’s what Israel is. Even in our deepest grief, we choose life. We show up. We bring flowers, we sing, we hug strangers. Nova wasn’t only a place of death — it was once a place of life. And now, it’s become a memorial that commemorates and celebrates the life of the vibrant souls who never came home.

That spirit ha-tikvah , the hope , it’s the essence of who we are. You can feel it everywhere: in the love, the unity, and the resilience of our people.

Two years later, the grief is still there… but so is the light.

And that light is not quiet. It’s in every family that remembers. In every friend who stands together. In every Jew who says

Am Yisrael Chai.