Last week, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, Temple Hillel began hosting an exhibition called “10/7: Human Stories.”
Based on the book “10/7: 100 Human Stories” by journalist and author Lee Yaron, the exhibit is at 18 Hillels around the country and was featured at Temple Hillel through Oct. 14.
“Oct. 7 is a very important day in our Jewish history,” Laurel Freedman, Temple Hillel’s executive director, told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent in an interview at the Hillel on Oct. 7.
“It’s tragic, and it is an opportunity for us to come together and hold each other up, making space for conversations, healing and just pain, and being together supporting each other through that pain.”
This was especially important, she said, coming out of the High Holiday season.
“That is what we do as a Jewish community, support each other, and just as the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur just passed, we are all responsible for one another,” Freedman said.
“That is part of what we repeat throughout the holiday, through our Ashamnus, is our responsibility to one another. And so whether or not Oct. 7 has impacted us personally as American Jews or diasporic Jews, I believe — and as a Jewish community, we believe — that it’s important to be part of this conversation and bear witness and support.”
The exhibit mostly consists of photos, although there is also an audio component, featuring authors and contributors reading from Yaron’s book.
The “10/7: Human Stories” exhibit itself consists of, Freedman said, “stories of the families, the stories of the individuals, the stories of the kibbutzim, the communities that were impacted, with the purpose of us being story bearers, sharing our shoulders to shoulder the burden and to hold these stories and not forget the people who suffered. It’s to carry their stories forward and on and allow the families and the grieving to be met by the community.”
Temple Hillel, the night before the anniversary, held an event at the building, which included a student sharing a presentation on a friend who was lost on Oct. 7, as well as a vigil and an opportunity to share reflections on the anniversary.
Hillel took the exhibit to the main campus on the morning of Oct. 7, before setting it up in the Hillel building that afternoon. Another program took place the following day, featuring Nova music festival survivor Matan Boltax, also in the Hillel building.
“It was really impactful and eye-opening to listen to Matan’s story. We had 34 students attend, who all really appreciated the event and were honored to be a part of it,” Brooke Singer, Temple Hillel’s community engagement associate, told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
When we visited, some Temple students were watching an Israeli television commemoration of the Oct. 7 attacks. More commemorations are set for when the Hebrew calendar anniversary comes around in a few weeks.
“We will continue to find ways to bring out the meaning from wherever we can in the calendar. It’s not just relegated to these days of mourning,” Freedman said.
Temple, like many other campuses in Philadelphia and around the country, has experienced tensions related to the conflict since the start of the Israel-Hamas war two years ago, and this has included some antisemitic incidents.
Last May, a Temple student was suspended after displaying an antisemitic sign at a Philadelphia bar, in a story that made national news.
There were multiple incidents in 2024 of a traditionally Jewish fraternity house on campus being vandalized, and in early 2024, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced an investigation into harassment of Jewish students at Temple, which ended with a resolution agreement.
Then, in September, Temple updated its code of conduct to address antisemitism, acting on recommendations from the Anti-Defamation League.
“Campus is a beautiful place where we can disagree and have conversations and learn more, and I do believe we’re at a turning point here on our campus,” Freedman said. “We do have the support of our university, the president, the provost. We are in conversation with the code of conduct office regularly, with the chief of police, with the security that are here on our campus.
“All has been relatively calm,” she added, referring to the school year so far. “We know that there are definitely different understandings of what happened on Oct. 7 and after Oct. 7, but that is not something that divides us here in our building.”
She added that safety, in making sure that students are safe on campus generally and in getting to the Hillel building, was the top priority.
“We are visibly Jewish on campus and we are supported in being visibly Jewish on campus,” Freedman said, adding that they feel “really, truly supported” by John Fry, who became president at Temple last November after previously leading Drexel University.
Freedman was clear, in her interview with Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, that Jewish students at Temple have gotten sick of being asked about campus antisemitism all the time, and would rather discuss other things.
“We’re learning from what happened on Oct. 7 and not just how we relate to the day and Israel and what happened there, but what’s necessary, what’s needed in order to move forward and recover in some small way and repair in some small way the brokenness from the day,” Freedman said.
Stephen Silver is a Broomall-based freelance writer.