Turning sorrow into light
On the day, ZV and Habayit will host a community-wide commemoration which will begin with a lantern parade.
A SEA of lanterns will light up the dark void created by the slaughter of October 7 and the gruelling Israel-Hamas war, as Jewish Victorians and their friends and supporters gather to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas pogrom.
Zionism Victoria (ZV) and Habayit are combining to host Illuminate October, a communal-wide commemoration on October 7 this year, to reflect on the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel in which more than 1200 Israelis were slaughtered and over 250 abducted to Gaza.
Since then, the death toll of Israelis and Jews from the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 1600. In the spirit of remembering the dead and the wounded, and comforting their families, the two organisations have invited community members and groups to create 1600 lanterns.
On the day, ZV and Habayit will host a community-wide commemoration which will begin with a lantern parade. “All those who have created lanterns will take part, with each lantern representing the victim’s soul, their life and their light,” ZV and Habayit jointly stated.
The organisations have created a video instructing how to make the lanterns.
Having adopted a victim from an online list provided by ZV and Habayit, individuals can make the lantern in their own time or attend one of the lantern workshops in the lead-up to October 7. Organisations can rally their members for lantern making events.
On October 7, the commemoration will include a Walk of Light, a procession conveying lanterns into the venue and creating a vivid light installation. Selected lines from letters by community members to their adopted victims will be projected onto the walls and some read out.
In a Shira b’Tsibur (community singing), shule and school choirs and other performers will lead the community in song. Prayers for victims and their families will follow.
The commemoration will be the latest in a year of ZV solidarity events, including a memorial service at Caulfield Shule, a United With Israel rally at Caulfield Park, Ride to Bring Them Home in Murrumbeena, We Will Dance Again at the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve, Yom Hazikaron at Monash Clayton, and Yom Ha’atzmaut at Beth Weizmann Centre.
ZV and Habayit reflected, “As we approach the first anniversary of October 7, Israel is under attack on its southern and northern borders … Tragically, it’s not just Israel’s neighbours calling for its destruction, it’s our neighbours too – in the CBD, in the media, in Parliament and in schools and universities. Israel has never been more isolated.”
Visit illuminateoctober.com. To volunteer, email admin@zionismvictoria.org.au; to adopt a specific group of victims, email habayit@zionismvictoria.org.au; to become an event sponsor, email execdirector@zionismvictoria.org.au
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