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A few weeks ago, I was waiting in line at a market in Manhattan and started talking to a woman next to me. Somehow Israel came up, and she asked what I thought about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It was actually a really nice, thoughtful conversation. I tried to answer her questions carefully. 

Then she asked me something that stopped me: 

How do you know October 7th actually happened?

I told her there were videos. The murders, rapes and atrocities were well documented, much of it by Hamas themselves. We watched people being kidnapped. We knew their names and faces. This wasn’t ancient history, we lived through it.

And yet, she still seemed doubtful.

Today marks three years since October 7th, and it feels like so much of the history we grew up knowing, the things our parents taught us about being Jewish, our history and our connection to Israel, is suddenly being challenged and rewritten. Our very Jewish core is being shaken. Even last week, I watched people challenge the FlyDubai flight miracle: “It’s suspicious.” “Don’t believe everything you see.”

I think one of the most important lessons of October 7th for me is that we should always listen, ask questions and be open to other perspectives. But we also can’t be afraid to stand firm in what we know and believe.

I encourage everyone to take the time to learn our history. Learn your family’s history and where we came from. Understand our connection to Israel. And most importantly, figure out what being Jewish means to you. Because it’s being challenged right now. 
If we don’t know our own story, it becomes very easy for someone else to rewrite it for us. 

Let’s not let that happen. 

Am Yisrael Chai,

Dave