A year after the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, Temple Israel of Great Neck gathered to honor the lives lost on that day and the hostages who still remain in captivity while expressing their continued commitment to Israel through a historic donation.
Temple Israel donated $40,000 to the American Friends of Israel Navy SEALs to mark the one-year anniversary.
“This gift marks a new chapter for us,” Temple Israel’s Israel Affairs Committee chair Bobby Bakhchi said.
Bakhchi said the $40,000 donation is the largest single donation made by Temple Israel in its history.
The American Friends of Israel Navy SEALs is the American partner organization to the Israeli Navy SEALs, also referred to as Shayetet-13. The organization helps fund programs and services for the SEALs and their families.
One of the programs the American Friends of Israel Navy SEALs provides is its Buddy Line program, which pairs an Israeli Navy SEAL with another Israeli Defense Force soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder. This program supports their healing through bonding events between the two soldiers.
“We are grateful to the type of generosity and partnership in supporting our program,” The American Friends of Israel Navy SEALs Executive Director Robert Brenner said. “…What we do isn’t possible without the volunteer leaders and visionaries like Bobby and his colleagues on the temple board.”
The intent of the commemoration Monday night was to honor the lives lost the year prior and the hostages taken, of which many remain in captivity still, and to provide the donation to the organization, Bakhchi said.
“There are no words that can express the pain, the anguish that we are feeling as a people having endured this barbaric attack,” Rabbi Howard Stecker said.
With a year passed, Bakhchi said he and the congregation have been concerned about recent events, including the war in the Middle East and domestic issues of antisemitism and local protests.
“If we don’t stand up, who will?” Bakhchi said. “If we don’t say something, who will?”
Bakhchi noted the event’s timing between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, which he noted as a time of reflection. He said this reflection is also needed on this anniversary and to ask oneself what they can do.
Last year, the temple donated more than $70,000 to support multiple Israeli organizations.
“It’s your commitment that has made such a contribution possible,” Bakhchi said.
Two Israeli Navy SEALs shared their story with Temple Israel’s congregation Monday night, including details of what the morning of Oct. 7 looked like for them and what they have witnessed since then.
Organizers of the commemoration and members of the American Friends of Israel Navy SEALs asked that no photos be taken of the Israeli SEALs and no identifying information, including their names, be published for security reasons.
Both soldiers shared their stories of running to serve upon hearing the news of the attacks on Oct. 7. One resided in Israel and drove with his fellow team members to report to duty and the other flew from the United States with his family to protect his country.
“I started feeling my hand jittering but not because of tension, the pressure, but because I felt like I have to do something,” the soldier who flew from the United States said of his reaction upon learning the news. “I have to be there.”
The soldier who was based in Israel at the time said that he and his team members took a selfie on their way to report to duty that day. He called it “weird” to look back upon now a year later.
“What we endured as a people, both in Israel and outside, is a lesson with too big of a burden that we need to carry around now,” he said. “But we need to learn from this lesson.”
