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Writer's pictureDr. Herbert Lappe

Remembering the Hamas attack on October 7th 2023


Pic: Conclusion of the candle march to the JKD
Conclusion of the candle march to the Jüdischen Kultusgemeinde Dresden, Foto © the author, 2024

How can you mobilise as many people as possible to take part and at the same time avoid slipping into routine commemoration? The organisers, the Amadeo Antonio Foundation, the German-Israeli Society, the State Association of Jewish Communities and Institutions in Saxony and the Jewish Community, joined forces to come up with a special concept:

Commemoration at the Frauenkirche, candlelight march over the Augustus Bridge into Neustadt to the synagogue of the Jewish Community in Eisenbahnstraße, opening of the exhibition ‘In the stream of memory: An Israeli draws’ in the synagogue of the Jewish Community.


The concept worked. Several hundred people gathered in front of the Frauenkirche, listened to the organisers' speeches and marched to the synagogue with candles and Israeli flags. The names of the victims of the attack were read out all the way.


The square in front of the synagogue was too small for all the people. It was here that Rabbi Akiva Weingarten said the Kaddish. This is a prayer in praise of God, which is also known as the prayer for the dead. At the end, Rabbi Moshe Barnett invited everyone to visit the exhibition in the synagogue.


Pic: Exhibition
The exhibition in our Synagogue was very interesting to many. Foto © the author

The exhibition shows how an Israeli woman feels after the Hamas attack on her country. In the introduction to the exhibition, it was emphasised that despite the viewpoint of an Israeli woman shown here, the suffering of the Arab civilian victims caused by the reaction of the Israeli military is not forgotten.


The artist Ronit Zafrir was born in Haifa in 1948 and has lived in Israel ever since. In her paintings, Ronit Zafrir refers to events from Jewish history or mythology. To help visitors who are less familiar with these events understand them, the pictures are accompanied by explanations, as in this example of the picture with the Hanukkah candlestick.


Pic: A picture from the exhibition by Ronit Zafrir
A picture from the exhibition by Ronit Zafrir

The explanatory text:

In 167 BC, the Seleucids under Antiochus IV conquered Jerusalem and desecrated the temple. After a three-year battle, a small group of Maccabees led by Judas Maccabeus succeeded in driving out the foreign rulers.

When the temple was rededicated, they only found a small jar of ritually pure oil, which was only supposed to last for one day. But the oil lasted for eight days until new oil was brought in - a miracle.

Hanukkah is a festival of joy. The eight-branched candlestick commemorates both the miracle and the victorious battle of the small Jewish group against the army of Antiochus IV.

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