Harvard Jewish Groups Hold Vigil on Anniversary of Oct. 7 Attacks

More than 400 people, including University President Alan M. Garber ’76 and College Dean Rakesh Khurana, gathered in front of Widener Library Monday evening for a vigil marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

Attendees embraced, lit candles, and held Israeli flags during the vigil, which was jointly organized by several Jewish groups including Harvard Chabad and Harvard Hillel. Israeli and Jewish students and faculty gave speeches and read aloud the names of people “dear to this community” who were killed in the attacks.

Several Harvard University Police Department officers watched the vigil from a distance. Hillel Campus Rabbi Getzel Davis said that Counseling and Mental Health Services and staff from Riverside Trauma Center were also on-site to provide grief counseling.

Dani M. Bregman ’25 opened the vigil, reflecting on the lives lost and hostages taken on Oct. 7.

“Today is Oct. 7, which marks one year from the day that forever changed the history of the Jewish people,” Bregman said.

“We are gathered here today to mourn those who were murdered on Oct. 7 and honor their memory, and to remember and pray for the hostages — 101 of whom are still being held today by Hamas in the tunnels of Gaza,” he added.

A sign commemorates the one-year anniversary of the October 7th terrorist attacks. By Frank S. Zhou

Eric M. Nelson ’99, a Jewish professor in the Government department, shared memories of his late grandfather with attendees. Nelson said his grandfather visited him during his freshman year at Harvard.

“There have been few mercies to speak of in the wake of Oct. 7, but one of them, assuredly, is that my grandfather did not live to see the horrors of the last 12 months,” Nelson said.

“I am grateful, too, that my grandfather never had to learn that here in the very place where he shed tears of joy on a Shabbat morning all those years ago, members of our own Harvard community would gather in their hundreds to declare that the Jewish people are an alien colonial presence in their ancestral land,” he added.

Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi called on faculty to speak up against “dangerous lies” about Israel.

“When academic institutions — including the one that you’re teaching — instead of leading the charge to illuminate young minds and hearts, provided space for conspiracies that fuel hate, what did you do to stop it? What did you do to counter the lies?” Zarchi asked.

An attendee speaks on the Widener Steps during the Harvard Hillel and Chabad-hosted vigil. By Frank S. Zhou

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, with three other pro-Palestine student groups, wrote in a Monday social media post that “now is the time to escalate.”

“Harvard continues to defend its investments in this genocidal regime despite repeated student and faculty demands for disclosure and divestment,” the PSC statement read. “After a year of genocide, we only grow more committed to the struggle for a liberated Palestine.”

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a past statement that “Harvard has and will continue to be unequivocal — in our words and actions — that antisemitism is not and will not be tolerated on our campus.”

“We remain committed to combating hate and to promoting and nurturing civil dialogue and respectful engagement,” he wrote.

In his speech, Zarchi criticized recent campus events featuring pro-Palestine speakers, including an Oct. 2 event organized by the PSC titled “Palestine on the Olympic Stage” and an Oct. 3 Israel-Palestine study group at the Harvard Kennedy School featuring former Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth Roth.

Hillel Executive Director Jason Rubenstein ’04 asked attendees to reflect on the “uncertain” history of the Jewish diaspora.

“To be Jewish right now means to pray with a degree of pain and an urgency that I never imagined when I moved into that room in Weld 24 years ago,” Rubenstein said, pointing to Weld Hall, a freshman dorm in Harvard Yard.

Harvard President Alan Garber '76 stands during the vigil. By Frank S. Zhou

Students delivered musical performances. Danny Denenberg ’26, the Israel Chair of Harvard Hillel, sang “October Rain,” written by Israeli singer Eden Golan about the Oct. 7 attack.

At the vigil’s close, Yael A. Danon ’28 led attendees in singing the Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, before they gathered in circles.

Harvard Chabad installed a display between the Science Center and Annenberg, the freshman dining hall, featuring photos of Israeli hostages on milk cartons. The installation will remain up through Oct. 10, according to a Sunday social media post from Chabad.

“On October 7, 2023, terrorists committed the worst attacks on Jews since the Holocaust,” the post stated. “Terrorists kidnapped more than 250 hostages that day. More than 100 of the kidnapped are still held hostage in the dungeons of Gaza, subject to torture, sexual assault, and starvation.”

“Let them go,” Chabad wrote.

—Staff writer Michelle N. Amponsah can be reached at michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @mnamponsah.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.