To honor the 1,200 victims slaughtered on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Chabad Rowan and Hillel held a memorial service at Pfleeger Concert Hall. 

Rabbi Hersh Loschak is the director of Chabad. 

“We are here to have an evening of unity, to show our solidarity, to pray for the hostages and all we lost on that day,” said Rabbi Loschak.

The event which focused on prayer, hope, and remembrance was sponsored by The Jewish Federations of North Jersey, StandWithUs, and Israel on Campus Coalition. 

With doors opening at 6:30 p.m., guests were welcomed to booths providing pamphlets on Israeli history, blue-and-white flags, pins, and refreshments.

The service began at 7 p.m. and served as a reminder to attendees of why they came. The presentation opened with a video, the screen reading “The deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust//Hamas’s terror army//slaughtered babies//raped women//burned whole families alive//massacred 1,200 people// and kidnapped hundreds of Israelis and citizens of 28 countries.”

Of those hostages, 12 are American. 

“Our brothers and sisters in Israel were taken from us in the cruelest of ways,” said Loschak. “Since that morning, we have stood together in unity and shared brokenness and prayer.”

Rabbi Loschak went on to describe the sorrow he and his people feel for the hostages still trapped in Gaza, but offered a hopeful allusion from the teachings of Judaism, saying “a little bit of light expels much darkness.”

With stories of Jewish resilience and a condemnation of terrorism throughout the memorial, one of the collective messages from the night was an urge for students to not only be proud of their heritage, but do so openly.

Rebbetzin Mina Richler, co-director of Chabad’s Gloucester County chapter, spoke during the event.

“Today there is hatred and threats to our existence,” said Richler. “Coming in as far as the middle east, and as near as local college campuses. Perhaps here, in our cocoon we can recognize our own resilience.” 

Rebbetzin Richler closed her speech with a prayer, saying she hopes it reaches the hostages still in Gaza, broken Israeli families, and soldiers on the frontlines.

After Avi Medina, guest speaker and Oct. 7 survivor, was welcomed to the stage. He showed a clip of him performing in Israel the day of the attack. Avi’s message of survival and freedom was a call to return to safety and security in the Middle East. 

Rabbi Avi Richler, founder of Chabad of Gloucester County, answered the question of “what now?”

“We must remember to support the state of Israel in its physical fight against tyranny and terrorism,” said Rabbi Richler. “We must do all we can to support Israel, in every possible way: militarily, politically, diplomatically, financially, and spiritually.” 

He then concluded by reciting the verse of Ecclesiastes 3.

Marc Fleischner, advisor of Hillel, concluded the event formally but opened with an opportunity for students to voice their experiences in regards to the attack, and ask questions. 

The first student that spoke was the President of Hillel, Kevin Jenner. He gave a speech speaking on the hardship but perseverance the Jewish community has had since last Oct. 7th.

After Jenner spoke, following in pursuit were other Jewish students voicing their own standpoint. 

The memorial closed with prayer sung in Yiddish by Cantor Levi Lipinski. Students adorned in Israel’s flag, yarmulkes and the Star of David clapped along.  Some danced, others stood in solidarity. Boys waved flags and bopped around with friends. 

“I would tell students who want to share their pride and commonality [of being Jewish], get involved in a group that supports them and brings them together,” said Jenner. “Not every space on campus guarantees that unfortunately.” 

One space Jenner is referring to is the Rowan Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that held a protest against Israel’s offensive in Gaza, just hours before the Oct. 7 memorial. 

This event held by SJP was promoted with flyers reading “Week of Rage,” and “1 Year of Genocide.” The Owl Statue, which can be seen from Pfleeger Hall, was decorated in a keffiyeh, and given a sign held between its wings reading “Free Free Palestine.”

On the sidewalk surrounding The Owl, messages written in chalk called for a ceasefire, and “justice for Palestine.” 

SJP secretary Zobia Bokhari, responded to Jenner’s claims of not being welcoming to Jewish students. 

“I think it’s unfair to say that a protest condemning a genocide where entire family lines have been wiped out, cities that are thousands of years old have been reduced to rubble, I think that it’s really unfair to say that this is anti-Semitic. When we critique Zionism, we’re critiquing a political ideology that’s caused the displacement of so many people and has caused them to live in refugee camps… we see the footage coming out of Gaza: babies that are starving, and women that are giving stillbirths. We’re not critiquing a group of people, and I think that that gets conflated,” said Bokhari. 

Jenner said he was “absolutely disgusted” by the event. He claimed the group disregards Jewish lifestyles on campus and their own goal is to oppose Jewish organizations on campus.

“They want to glorify something we take no pride in,” said Jenner. “Do you think we want to be in Gaza right now? We can’t turn off who we are.”

Jenner said that one of his main issues with SJP is their call for a ceasefire in which he claims they do not realize they’re supporting terrorism. 

“Hamas is a terrorist group, and so is Hezbollah. These are groups that do not want peace,” said Jenner. 

SJP’s president Danyal Khan also rebutted Jenner’s assertions. 

“We’re not advocating to make enemies. And we actually even acknowledged that throughout the protest itself. I myself, I was speaking, and I said that there’s people who we know will differ in opinion from us, and we want to acknowledge that. We’re not on different sides, we’re not enemies, we don’t hate you, we’re one student body. We want to come together, and we want a ceasefire, want the killing to stop,” said Khan. 

President of Chabad Alexa Lang, junior elementary education major, said she felt it was insensitive for SJP to hold an event just hours before the memorial, however, she explained that adversity on campus will not cause her and the Jewish community to shy away from expressing themselves.

Rebbetzin Fraidy Loschak, co-director of Chabad, added to Lang’s comment saying that to guarantee safety the organizers coordinated with local police. 

“Unfortunately, whenever there is a Jewish event it’s a target for anti-semitism attacks,” said Loschak. “Many of us are grandchildren of holocaust survivors and we have this inborn fear of being attacked. We don’t let that stop us.”

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email news@thewhitonline.com