This is the text of the speech that Linda Goldstein gave to congregants of Kehilath Israel Synagogue on May 12. Excerpts were published in the May 23 print issue of The Chronicle.
After last Oct. 7, I was horrified watching the atrocities on the news and reading about how vulnerable Israel became. The terrorist organization Hamas committed unmentionable and unimaginable atrocities against more than 1,200 innocent Israeli citizens and still have 130 hostages being held in captivity. It has been verified and confirmed that the mission of Hamas was to murder, defile, rape, sexually assault, terrorize, starve, torture and isolate Israeli men, women and children. The United Nations Security Council would not accept this factually, initially, which was a disgraceful, outrageous act of defiance, but finally proven true in its entirety in February.
In my definition, Hamas terrorists are monsters who do not value life at all. In contrast, as Jews, part of our moral fiber is to value all life. Yet, it is Israel that continues to be pilloried in the press while hostages remain captive and Hamas terrorists operate freely under cover of the Gazan people, homes and institutions. Some of our reputable college campuses today are being faced with overt anti-Zionism, antisemitism and chants of genocide to all Jews — somewhat reminiscent of the late 1930s.
My heart told me I needed to go to Israel, and with [my husband] Elliott’s blessings, to learn and experience firsthand and bear witness to the sites where the violence was committed towards the Jewish people — our people — of Israel on Oct. 7. It is our responsibility to protect the sacred and to acknowledge those killed. I was blessed to travel with one of our four daughters, Keri Goldstein-Unowsky, on a Jewish Federation Memphis solidarity trip to Israel along with 18 members of her community. It was a sad, tearful, emotional, beautiful but heartbreaking, intense six-day trip that made an impression upon my heart and that I will never forget. Today, I will share with you some of what I witnessed.
Every Israeli we met thanked us for coming. They told us it mattered that they did not feel alone. It lifted them, because we made a trip across the globe to give them hugs, to remind them that their pain and their stories matter and urged us to bring their stories back home. We felt that part of our mission was listening to the stories and letting people know that the 20 of us heard them and would share their stories at home. Israel needs an account of our support, and we must continue to provide it regardless of politics. That is why I am speaking to you today.
We were a few kilometers from Gaza and could hear continuous artillery, never getting used to it, being shocked and startled each time. Our safety was prioritized and secured not only with constant intelligence from the IDF to our bus driver, but also by having a well-trained armed guard. The IDF provides soldiers with periodic breaks to go home and spend time with their families, allowing them a well-deserved respite to earn extra money to support them. To be a Jew in Israel, you must be resilient, strong and determined to protect the Jewish state, and they are.
We visited Memphis’s sister city, Shoham, and met with their mayor, teachers, students and community members. We listened to stories about how the war had affected them. Of the 8,000 people in Shoham, 2,000 reservists had been called to war. Listening to their stories was what we did best, and everyone had a story to tell.
In southern Israel, within seven kilometers of the Gaza Strip, we visited the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of innocent Israelis and Americans were massacred or kidnapped. The scene having makeshift memorials was emotional and traumatic, knowing that such horrors were committed at that exact location. Previously, this location was described as a peaceful, tranquil rainforest surrounding a clearing perfect for a rave pop-up. We bore witness to this site and paid our respect.
I was not familiar with ZAKA, Israel's search and rescue volunteer organization providing world disaster assistance. The ZAKA leader we met spoke powerfully with tears about his work on Oct. 7 and since. He and his team went to the trauma to save people and to bring dignity to those who were murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri. As one of the first responders on the scene, he described gruesome and unimaginable stories.
“This was like nothing ever witnessed in our time, going into homes to try and bring whole families out in body bags — it is too painful to put in writing, and it represents the very worst of humanity. But I will tell you, doing this work for decades, I had to walk out of one of the homes with unthinkable realities,” he said.
After he spoke, filled with emotion, I reached out to give him a hug. The group shouted at me, “Linda, he is an Orthodox Jew. You can’t touch him.” I replied that I knew that, but my instinct was to share his pain and let him know he wasn’t alone.
Next, he showed us the car cemetery, which housed about 1,000 cars belonging to Nova music festival attendees. There were three-to-four-cars-deep piles of burned, bullet-ridden destroyed vehicles resulting from Hamas terrorism. Bodies of innocent women, men and children were found in some of the cars that were trying to escape. He told us that a mother and child were fearfully holding each other when burned and murdered, fusing their bodies together. Since there were blood stains and irretrievable human tissue in the cars after the bodies were carefully removed, the cars would be buried later to honor them according to Halacha (Jewish law). We bore witness to his stories.
We heard testimony directly from Mia Shem, one of the young women who was brutally kidnapped from the Nova music festival and held in captivity for 54 days. Quietly and sadly, she confirmed the horrific atrocities she witnessed at the Nova festival, the fear, raging gunshots from automatic weapons, young people running for their lives. After she was kidnapped, Mia described being kept in a dark room except for terrorists who watched her every move holding a gun to her head. She had little food and water. We bore witness to her story.
Due to my healthcare background, an extremely impactful event for me was visiting the 900-bed Shamir Medical Center in Tel Aviv, a state-of-the-art medical center 37 miles from Gaza. We met with a team of three physicians, including Dr. Shai Efrati, a neurologist who, combined with extensive research and evidence-based clinical trials over 15 years, has helped them to develop a protocol on how to help brain tissue regenerate after traumas. By viewing areas of damaged tissue through CT, MRI and Spect Imaging, traumas can be easily seen. After experiencing a significant drop in and an increase in oxygen, brain tissue can regrow. A complex treatment protocol puts this dynamic to work in a hyperbaric chamber, where the oxygen levels trick their brains into thinking they are deprived of oxygen (hypoxia), even though they are not, causing the stem cells to miraculously begin to regenerate brain cells. This treatment helps people with several types of brain damage following a stroke, brain injury or PTSD due to the war. It is fascinating to think about the endless possibilities of this procedure to the world. We bore witness to this protocol.
We visited the new state-of-the-art Magen David Adom facility, Israel’s National Emergency Medical and Blood Services Organization, which was scheduled to open on Oct. 9, but due to the surprise war, opened immediately. All blood donations in Israel go through MDA. As we toured the National Blood Bank, we were amazed at the state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment. Magen David Adom has 1,400 yellow bulletproof ambulances fully equipped throughout Israel. We bore witness to this.
We met with Yossi Klein Halevy, a thoughtful leader, journalist and author of many books including “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbors,” spoke to us about how he really believed what he had written in the book, however after the horrors of Oct. 7, he now had a different perspective. He thought the war, the unity of Israelis and the tensions in society that existed for many months before Oct. 7 were weakening entities.
Yossi said that, “in some ways, the war, from an internal and ideological perspective, is about those two things: restoring the military and our trust in it, and restoring the promise of safety that Zionism offers.”
He also spoke about two values in this moment that are in our thoughts.
“One is the sacred value of the release of captives, a value that is absorbed into the ethics of the IDF,” he said. “The other is the sacred value of Jewish defense. There are clashes in Israeli society about how to view these two values.”
We walked around Moshav Netiv HaAsara with HarEl, who grew up there and whose parents still lived there. We could see the border wall between Gaza and Israel and, if we desired, could touch it. Twenty people were killed there on Oct. 7. HarEl told stories of those who were killed, and how trusted Palestinian workers from Gaza who knew and worked on the Yishuv for years provided maps and information to Hamas terrorists who would later go to traumatize the kibbutz.
HarEl said that “two terrorists were on each glider and two entered in a truck going into people’s homes, ravaging, destroying, shooting and burning them.” Living in Jerusalem, he was alerted via sirens and WhatsApp, called his parents who resided there and “told them to go to their safe room immediately, barricade and lock the door, and not come out.” Thank G-d, they were saved. Two teenagers innocently fishing on the beach were killed by terrorists coming in from the Mediterranean Sea. HarEl told us that it took six hours for the army to come and secure the Yishuv. When we asked HarEl when people could return, he said, “When it’s safe.” We bore witness to this.
After Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2004, Kibbutz Sa’ad was determined to stay despite the lack of safety. Ronit, one of the founders of the kibbutz, had just returned that day and talked about what it meant to be a place of giving.
“‘Sa’ad’ means giving and assisting,” he said.
They loved having young adults — people who did not have family in Israel, people who were looking for a connection — on the kibbutz. And so, they began hosting Garin Tzabar, a program through the Jewish Agency that hosts lone soldiers, providing them a home and some infrastructure as they are new to Israel without family. A vibrant young woman, Rose Lubin, a 19-year-old lone soldier from Georgia, was one of the most recent residents of Kibbutz Sa’ad. Her loving grandparents were on our mission and told us stories of their brave and beautiful granddaughter.
Rose had said, “Giving is a part of our resilience. When we give to others, we become stronger.” Rose, of blessed memory, was stabbed to death while on guard duty at the gate in the Old City by a terrorist. We bore witness to her story.
We hosted an outdoor barbeque dinner on the kibbutz for over 40 soldiers fighting on the front lines and kibbutz members, most of whom were still evacuated to safer locations. They were so happy to be with us and share their experiences. Watching them eat dinner was a joy, especially being a Jewish mom and grandma who delights in the healing power of food. Beneath the backdrop of constant artillery, explosions and calculated bombing a few miles away, the soldiers assured us that artillery was coming from us, aimed at strategic targets. We hugged the young soldiers who could have been our children. The tears overwhelmed me. They were so appreciative and grateful for our support from the United States. We bore witness to this.
Our group volunteered at the Kollel Chabad food pantry packers. We helped to fill and supply boxes of non-perishable foods to people from Kibbutz Be’eri and others. This massive operation supports pop-up clothing centers, delivers kosher meals to evacuees, provides money for food or other necessities to evacuees and families of reservists, holds food distribution centers, creates meaningful experiences for children that are evacuated and away from home, and conducts virtual food drives. They have distributed 3,500 food prepaid debit cards that people can use anywhere. We bore witness to this operation.
Visiting one of the 56 Amigour senior citizen sites in Tel Aviv funded through the Jewish Agency was enlightening. The seniors pay 300 shekels a month (less than $100) and live in apartments like an independent living facility. They serve mostly Holocaust survivors and elderly Israelis displaced from the war. Activities, meals, friendship and a lovely community are provided. Their choir surprised us with a concert singing beautiful Yiddish songs. We danced the hora together and momentarily forgot the pain and sadness of Oct. 7, experiencing stories, joy, laughter, hugging and crying.
A senior said, “We haven’t danced since the war.”
Never again is now. We bore witness to this.
We went to Hostage Headquarters, a place for families of hostages to congregate together, do advocacy work and have some sense of community. A diplomatic team collaborates with former ambassadors to use their connections to keep the hostages in the forefront of the world's minds. There is a table set up for all the hostages, with yellow being the dominant color for bringing the hostages’ home.
A young Israeli, Daniel Lifshitz, told us about his grandparents who were both taken hostage at Kibbutz Nir Oz. You may have seen the 85-year-old grandmother on the news who was straggled over a motorcycle between two Hamas terrorists. His grandmother was one of the first hostages released and at death's door, but still recovering as well as can be expected after being terrorized by Hamas. Her last vision of her husband of 65 years was him lying on the ground naked and unconscious, with a gunshot to his arm. We bore witness and listened to their stories.
David Horovitz from the Times of Israel spoke to us and shared his thoughts on preserving the Jewish state. Mr. Horovitz made Aliyah 40 years ago, is the editor-in-chief of the Times of Israel, which is one of the leading reputable news sources in Israel. A daily podcast of the war by the Times currently helps break down current issues. He spoke about how much Israelis have felt empathy from the American government and they felt the support, and that the partnership between our countries is “crucial.” Israel needs better diplomacy. He stressed the need for Israel’s messaging to be drastically improved, especially given the “tremendous global interest in what is happening.”
Finalizing our trip at the Kotel, together we said a tefillah for the safe return of hostages. Our family was in Israel in June 2023 celebrating our grandson Jacob’s bar mitzvah. The Kotel was filled with people, but this time, the crowd was noticeably small.
Rabbi Jeff Dreifus of Memphis, who was on the trip with us, said, “We are with Israel as she is grieving, and as she is living. At other sites of atrocities and places of massacre, Jewish life has stopped. We go back to visit as a place of history, remembering what was. But here, Jewish life is thriving, Jewish life is shaping this moment and is being shaped by it.” His words were immensely powerful and true.
Israelis may appear to be okay, but underneath the facade lies fear and anxiety. Yet through it all, Israelis’ resilience, determination and dedication are remarkable. We are a determined people standing up for the right of a nation to exist. The purpose of the war is to restore safety, military credibility, and, most importantly, to have our hostages returned home. Israel will not accept a ceasefire without the return of all the hostages. It is our G-d-given right to be in Israel where we can live, learn and grow without fear of retaliation, war or death. Israel is our homeland, and we have no other.