Roughly 350 people gathered to honor those who were killed and taken hostage in Israel, one year after the initial attacks by Hamas. (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

As the sun set over Brookings Hall on Wednesday evening, nearly 350 people gathered in Brookings Quadrangle to listen as speakers lit candles, sang songs, and said prayers in honor of those killed and taken hostage, just over a year after Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7. 

Sophomore Max Dayan, who attended the vigil, described it as both heavy and uplifting.

“Heavy because it’s unfortunate this is the reason we gather, to remember the dead, but uplifting to show that even with the hard times, we can come together as a community and support each other in all the ways we know how,” he said.  

Student, faculty, and staff speakers lit twelve candles throughout the course of the event, each one representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Some told stories about their personal connections with people who were killed or taken hostage, while others led prayers and shared messages of hope. 

A series of speakers lit twelve candles with the Star of David on them to signify the twelve tribes of Israel. (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

Students and faculty members in the audience — many wearing blue, donning kippot, and holding small tea candles provided by organizers — applauded and offered up hugs as speakers left the makeshift stage and put their arms around one another during songs.   

Senior Rayna Auerbach and juniors Morgan Schrier and Tim Mellman lit the first candle and explained that they organized the vigil to come together as a community and honor those who were killed. The event was organized by Chabad, Hillel, the Jewish Student Association, and WashU’s Jewish Advocacy Council. 

“The most special aspect of the Jewish community is how interconnected each and every one of us is,” Schrier said. “Unfortunately, it makes it all the more difficult for us in these circumstances. Almost all of us know someone directly affected by the actions of Hamas, and if we don’t, we know someone who does.”

Mellman expanded upon the reasoning for lighting twelve candles, stating that light is a symbol of resilience in Jewish culture. 

“Today, we are standing taller, prouder, and more united than ever. Our Magen David necklaces, kippot, and mezuzot are not just symbols of our Jewish identity but reminders of our shared strength, of a people who have faced darkness time and time again and yet have always found light,” Mellman said. 

WashU Chabad’s Israel Fellow Eden Yair lit the second candle and shared the story of a friend’s husband who lost his life while fighting in Gaza.

“Etan went to fight in Gaza and got killed,” she said. “Think about it, think about his mother, his wife, his baby. It’s hitting us with every story we hear; we are taking a moment to honor [them] and then we move on, with pain in our chest.”

Junior Dillon Corsair spoke about his close high school friend, Edan Alexander, an American member of the Israeli Defense Forces who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 and remains captive. 

Corsair said that he feels guilty for his freedom when he thinks about the cruel realities that Alexander likely faces as a hostage. 

“I can go outside for a walk while Edan doesn’t have that basic freedom,” Corsair said. “I can breathe fresh air while Edan might have forgotten what that feels like. I can call my mom while Edan has been completely disconnected from his family and the world for an entire year.” 

Corsair lit the third candle and thanked the WashU Jewish community for its unity and support.

Junior Dillon Corsair talks about his high school friend who is currently being held hostage in Gaza after being kidnapped on Oct. 7. (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

Senior Alma Melamed, who lit the fourth candle of the night, spoke about her family members and the summers she spent on the Kfar Aza kibbutz, which was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. 

Melamed described her family’s experience during the massacre. 

“My family was left to be hunted and slaughtered like prey,” Melamed said. “They curled up in their bomb shelters, hid behind bushes and sprinted, injured and under fire, from one temporary spot to another.” 

Melamed finished her speech by talking about the hostages still in Gaza.

“The only way we can start to heal, the only way we can start to say there is a future, is if all the remaining hostages come back, now,” Melemed said. 

Sophomore Josh Houston shared a message to the audience from his aunt, Marcy Goldberg, who is also Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s grandmother. Goldberg-Polin was a 23-year-old who was taken hostage on Oct. 7 whose body was recovered from the Gaza Strip in late August. 

Houston said that his aunt, along with other members of her family, expressed gratitude for the outpouring of concern and support from WashU students. He told a story about how Goldberg-Polin stood up for his friends and treated them like family. 

“We are here today, not only to remember Hersh, but also to ensure his memory and his legacy are a revolution for good to treat everyone around us like family, with genuine kindness and care, and to be that support for one another, especially during tough times,” Houston said. 

Rebecca Leffell Koren, a senior lecturer in the Sam Fox School, read aloud the words of a 100-year-old poet who survived the events of Oct. 7 in Kibbutz Be’eri and lit the sixth candle. 

For the seventh candle, student leaders from Chabad, the Jewish Student Association, and Hillel read aloud a prayer for the state of Israel. 

Danielle Serota, who is a student at WashU’s medical school, spoke about her experience serving in the Israeli Defense Forces as she lit the eighth candle. 

She talked about Captain Eden Nimri, who was killed on Oct. 7 while defending a kibbutz that Serota once served at, and another friend who was killed at the Nova Festival. 

“I cannot bring [them] back, or the 1,200 other innocent lives taken on Oct. 7,” she said. “But to succumb to those feelings of helplessness is like signing a permission slip for yourself to do nothing at all, to live our lives as if Oct. 7 never happened.”

Rabbi Shlomo Ashkanazy, who is co-director of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus through Hillel, lit the ninth candle and said a prayer for the Israeli Defense Forces in Hebrew. 

Lighting the tenth candle, WashU Hillel’s Rabbi Jordan Gerson led a prayer called Acheinu, which calls for the release of hostages. 

“This prayer actually began appearing back in the eleventh century, which is an indication that the taking of Jews as hostages has happened for some time,” Gerson said. “And yet our hearts break and our souls ache for the return of the over 100 hostages that remain in Gaza.”

The eleventh candle was lit by Director of WashU Chabad, Rabbi Hershey Novack, who led a series of prayers including the Shema, a prayer recited for a number of different meanings, including directly before death. 

“I know that on Oct. 7, many, many did not have that opportunity [to recite Shema],” Novack said. “So let us stand together and let us say Shema.” 

After students rose for the Shema, Novack asked them to stay standing while he recited a version of the Mourner’s Kaddish, a prayer recited in honor of the dead. 

As the final candle was lit, the co-organizers led the crowd in “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem. The event concluded with the group coming together to sing “One Day,” a song by Jewish American artist Matisyahu about wishing for a world without war. 

A student holds a tea candle during the vigil. (Bri Nitsberg | Student Life)

When the vigil ended, many students stayed behind to talk to one another. Sophomore Jonah Porth, Outreach Chair for WashU’s Jewish Student Association, said that he was particularly moved by Houston’s message from the grandmother of one of the hostages who was killed. 

“Hersh [Goldberg-Polin] has been in the news a lot and I think we’ve all heard his name and so it was really powerful hearing his story,” Porth said. 

Dayan said that the community of the event resonated with him strongly as a Jewish student with family connections to Israel. 

“I think one of my main takeaways would just be that the Jewish community here is stronger than anything that can be thrown at it,” Dayan said. 

Porth said that it was beautiful to see all of the candles being lit at night because they became visible as it got progressively darker.

“There’s this tradition in Judaism, when it’s the anniversary of someone’s death, you light a candle for them,” Porth said. “Traditionally, you want to do it if it’s someone in your immediate family, but I think given the situation, it’s really beautiful that even though we’re not immediately connected, we still have a deep connection.” 

Tanvi Gorre contributed reporting. 

Editor’s note: Tim Mellman is Student Life’s Managing Newsletter Editor and was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.