“We can’t make the darkness smaller, but we can enlarge the light,” Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi said on stage on Monday evening at the Bereaved Families Oct. 7 Memorial Ceremony at Tel Aviv’s HaYarkon Park, repeating the words of his writer daughter, which had stuck with him throughout the day. The iconic folk-rock musician dedicated a song to the hostages as he performed alongside 13-year-old released hostage Yagil Yaakov, whose father Yair was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, and whose body remains in captivity. 

And through the many tears shed by the 2,000 audience members — mostly made up of families of Oct. 7 victims — the light in Israel’s diverse society shone as speaker after speaker highlighted the bravery, self-sacrifice, love and unity of both those who fell and those they left behind. Thousands more Israelis watched the ceremony in public gatherings around the country and from their homes, after the event was restricted for security reasons. Some said they were boycotting the official state prerecorded ceremony, which was held immediately afterwards and organized by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, accusing the government of a lack of accountability for the state’s failures surrounding Oct. 7. 

Many of Israel’s most prominent singers participated in the civilian-organized ceremony, their music poignantly threading together the stories that were shared against a backdrop of cars that were burned by terrorists on Oct. 7, images of charred homes and the names and faces of terror victims. Ivri Lider sang “I Was Lucky To Have Loved” together with Nova festival survivor Yuval Sharvit Trabelsi, whose husband, Mor Trabelsi, was murdered in their car where they tried to take cover. Trabelsi covered herself and her friends in her husband’s blood to pretend they too were dead and evade the terrorists. She described the helplessness she felt as she heard the screams of a woman being raped.

Agam Bubut dedicated Idan Raichel’s Arabic “Min Nhar Li Mshiti” (From The Day You Left) to Edna Malkamo, an Ethiopian-Israeli therapist and mother of three who was killed by Hamas terrorists as she was driving home from a night shift; and Breslov Hasidic singer Shuli Rand performed “We Shall Not Ask” together with Mizrachi singer Yishay Levi after Zaka volunteer Shneor Gol spoke of the trauma he has experienced after identifying so many bodies of victims of the terror attacks. 

Maysam Abu Wasel Darawshe spoke of the warmth, love and energy radiated by her brother Awad, a paramedic and ambulance driver who was murdered at Nova after staying on the scene to help others. “I hear the words that our mother speaks about you in Arabic, the same language that on that Saturday morning was associated with blood and horrors,” Darawshe said. “For many here, it will be hard to hear, but Arabic is the language of our childhood, the language in which we dreamed of a better future, of love, peace, and life — for all of us. And I will quote our mother (in Arabic): ‘Awad was a gift from heaven; his journey was short, but it carried great and profound meanings: he taught us how to love each other, to help one another, and not to let hatred and jealousy reside within us.’”

Arin Hakba and Ashira Greenberg, a Druze and a Jewish woman whose husbands had been killed in their IDF service, spoke of how they crossed the country, from the Galilee to the Dead Sea and back, to comfort one another and learned about the close bond their husbands had shared. “Tomer and Salman were different from each other — in their cultures and beliefs — but what connected them was much greater: a love for this land and a determination to protect it. It is our duty to bring the unity that exists on the front lines to the home front as well,” said Hakba. 

Yigal Cohen, father of fallen soldier Hadar Cohen, who was killed at the Nahal Oz outpost along with 14 other tatzpitaniyot, female lookout soldiers, released 16 white balloons — Noa Marciano was kidnapped and killed in captivity —  in their memory, and five yellow balloons for another five tatziptianiyot who were kidnapped and remain in Gaza. Cohen called for accountability for the failures surrounding Oct. 7, as did Jonathan Shimriz, one of the organizers of the ceremony, who called for a state inquiry — a demand met by applause from the audience. Shimriz is the founder of the Kumu movement of displaced Israelis from the north and south of the country; Kumu hosted the event in collaboration with families of Oct. 7 victims.

Shimriz’s brother, Alon Shimriz, was taken hostage by Hamas and killed in a friendly fire incident by Israeli soldiers who did not realize that he, Yotam Haim and Samar Tlalka were hostages who had escaped captivity and were appealing to be rescued.  

“For five days, they sought the light, but tragically, it was denied them at the last moment,” Shimriz said. “My brother Alon acted against every basic instinct. He initiated and led. He wasn’t afraid to make mistakes; he wasn’t afraid to believe. For five days, he navigated through the heart of a bombarded neighborhood in Gaza, when no one thought it was even possible. Even in the harshest conditions, even when there was no hope, Alon, being Alon, believed and worked towards a good outcome.”

“In his death, Alon bequeathed us the path, the light and the hope,” Shimriz said. “I believe that from the ruins and destruction, from the hell we went through, a new generation is rising. A generation that believes in us, in a reformed and united Israeli society, a generation that believes in the Israeli spirit. A generation that will rebuild the ruins and create a better, more moral country — a country where truth is pursued, sanctified, and never let go.”

Outside the barriers of the closed-off event, people gathered to show their support for the bereaved families and relatives of the hostages, occasionally chanting slogans such as “you are not alone, we are with you,” and “bring them home now.”