Catholic group attends memorial exhibit for victims of terrorist attack on Israeli music festival, offering comfort to local families
WEST BLOOMFIELD — A small contingent from the Archdiocese of Detroit and various parishes in southeast Michigan expressed sorrow and solidarity Nov. 21 while visiting an exhibition and memorial dedicated to the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on a music festival in Re'im, Israel.
Nova: The Moment Music Stood Still, a pop-up exhibition at The J in West Bloomfield, bears witness to the horrors of the attack that took place on the Nova Music Festival by Hamas militants, which led to the deaths of 1,200 men, women and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of more than 30 countries, according to the U.S. Department of State, as well as a war in which at least 50,000 more Israelis and Gazans have died.
The Catholic contingent at the exhibit was led by David Conrad, coordinator of ecumenical and interfaith relations for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Conrad explained the Catholic presence at the exhibit was a sign of the local Church's solidarity with the Jewish community, as well as all victims of the subsequent violence between Israel and Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
Many of those affected reside in southeast Michigan, including friends and family members who have lost loved ones, Conrad said.
“I think it’s important to raise awareness with our Catholic community of what has gone on in Israel, affecting not only the people there, but their relatives and friends who live with us and among us in Metro Detroit,” Conrad told Detroit Catholic. “Jewish people are our friends, neighbors and dialogue partners, and what happens in one part of the world — our world is very small these days — affects us. And it’s important to note they are our ancestors in the faith.”
Conrad added it's important to distinguish between the actions of various states and powers at play and the individuals who are impacted by the violence on all sides of the conflict, which is taking place in a region of the world where, Christians believe, Jesus Christ was born, crucified, died and rose again.
The Nova exhibit, which runs until Nov. 24, explains the history of the Nova Music Festival that takes places in southern Israel, and the usually feel-good vibes the festival brings to people of various backgrounds and cultures.
After a short video explains the history of Nova, which translates into “New,” visitors are guided through a series of displays depicting the sheer honor and chaos that was unleashed when Hamas militants attacked the festival. The video promptly ends with footage of the music being shut off and festival organizers alerting the crowd there had been an attack.
Exhibit visitors are then ushered through displays depicting the sudden and brutal nature of the attack: gunmen storming into an encampment of tents, young people being gunned down and women kidnapped and forced into the backs of pickup trucks. Other images show the bullet-ridden portable toilets festival goers used for shelter and burned-out cars that were set ablaze by Hamas terrorists. Images of the last text messages sent from festival-goers are displayed throughout the exhibit.
Alon Lachman, a veteran of the Israeli Defense Force, was a volunteer at the West Bloomfield exhibit.
Lachman lost 10 friends during the Oct. 7 attack and subsequent fighting, including his best friend, Neta Epstein, who was hiding with his girlfriend in their apartment’s saferoom when a Hamas militant threw a grenade into the room.
“He jumped on a grenade and was killed and saved his girlfriend, who is alive today to tell his story,” Lachman said. “He was supposed to be married today at the beginning of 2024; unfortunately, I lost him and nine more friends. I lost three more friends that day who were in combat and were killed, six other friends who were killed in battle in Gaza or Lebanon.”
The exhibit allows people to leave notes of remembrance for those killed in the Oct. 7 attack and the 254 people Hamas took hostage in the aftermath of the attack, many of whom have since been found dead.
“I think people outside Israel don’t understand we want (the war) to end. We want a ceasefire. We want this to stop,” Lachman said. “But we can’t if we have hostages who are being hidden in tunnels, being raped and tortured. We want this all to stop. But we have to make sure it never happens again.”
Catholic leaders around the world, including Pope Francis, have spoken out calling for an end to the war, for hostages to be freed, and for humanitarian aid to those continuing to suffering from violence in the region.
Lior Zisser-Yogev, Israeli emissary for the State of Israel to the Jewish Federation of Detroit, said the exhibit is both a memorial and a call for greater awareness in the local community.
“Ever since Oct. 7 took place, and we have seen and witnessed the horrors that have happened there, we realized we should not only honor the memories of the victims, people who have fallen defending the State of Israel, but also spread the word and tell the truth, the story here in Detroit,” Zisser-Yogev said.
Zisser-Yogev’s brother, Ilay Zisser, was part of the Israeli Defense Force’s counterattack to drive the Hamas militants out of Israel and was killed in the fighting.
Her grief was further compounded when protestors showed up at her workplace a month after the attack, denouncing her as a colonizer and perpetrator of genocide, she said.
“The Jewish community here is an incredible community, but in moments like this, we feel isolated, we feel alone,” Zisser-Yogev said. “We feel like our pain is only our own. What’s happening in the Jewish homeland affects us immediately as it’s happening to our family members and our close friends, and we feel like it hasn’t been seen. Jewish students walking on campus, receiving so much hate. They receive so much hate and violence for only being Jewish and identifying as Zionists.”
Zisser-Yogev said having groups like the one from the Archdiocese Detroit attend the exhibit is a welcomed sign that people outside the Jewish community are standing with them in solidarity.
After the group from the archdiocese made its way through the exhibit, Conrad led a discussion among the participants, drawing a contrast between the increased security measures at synagogues and Jewish events in the past year to the relative security Catholics experience while attending Mass.
“Unfortunately, experiences like Oct. 7 and the aftermath of that tragedy have allowed what seemed the dormant or dead specter of antisemitism to rear its ugly head again,” Conrad said. “It seems to be the oldest prejudice in the world.”
For those traumatized by the attack, which shook the safety of Jewish people both in Israel and worldwide, having people — especially non-Jewish people — take the time to see the exhibit provides tremendous comfort, Lachman said.
“More than a year after that horrific day, when at times we are alone and there are protests against us, this means the world to us, to know we have friends," Lachman said. "It’s more than friendship to us; it feels like a family that hugs us. There are no words to describe how much we appreciate this."
In a region of the country that boasts the largest Arab-American community comprised of Muslims and Christians, a sizable Jewish community, as well as Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant communities, the need for dialogue and solidarity among members of different communities and faiths — especially in support of victims of violence — is critical to turning down the tension, Conrad said.
As Advent approaches, Conrad said the Christian response is always grounded in the hope offered by Christ, whose redemptive suffering took place in the very region of the world where violence still rages.
“I’m reminded of the Christmas hymn, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ and how the first verse ends: ‘The hopes and fear of all the years are met with thee, tonight’ — 'thee' being Jesus, the infant,” Conrad said. “I think we can locate in Jesus of Nazareth all of our hopes and fears. And he takes that upon himself, and he presents himself anew every Advent and Christmas to remind us that he is approachable, that he is one of us.
"More profoundly, his incarnation reminds us that all human beings are raised in human dignity; it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, your perspective or political or religious affiliations. God has taken on your flesh, and you are precious. We are precious to God.”
The Nova exhibit runs through Nov. 24 at The J, 6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield.
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