More than 130 students and staff joined together in reflection and remembrance at UM Hillel to commemorate the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Nova Festival survivor Rotem Asner and UM student Eitan Pritzker, a former IDF lone soldier, shared their experiences from that day with those in attendance.
“I always say that today is my birthday because this is exactly what I get — this is a gift. I get my life again,” said Asner, UM Hillel’s Israel Fellow.
Asner, who is from the south of Israel about 30 minutes away from the Gaza border, studied to be a physical education instructor. After the attack, she decided to pivot and come to UM Hillel as an Israel Fellow.
“It was after that I decided to do something more meaningful,” she said. “I’m so happy to be here today.”
While sharing her story, Asner recalled arriving to the Nova Festival with her friends, setting up their campsite, and going in to dance.
“I remember that Sharon, my best friend, she saw something in the sky,” said Asner. “She said she can’t even explain what happened. She just saw thousands of rockets.”
From there, Asner’s group got into their car and attempted to drive, only to see the chaos of thousands of other partygoers evacuating. When they got out of the car to walk, she recalled hoards of people running, suddenly understanding the gravity of the situation.
“Everyone just started running, and I just stopped, and I saw two terrorists come my way with two guns,” Asner said. “And it was very nonchalant because they know what they’re going to do. They come to kill us just because we are Jewish.”
Freshman Rachel Katoni said hearing these personal accounts made her reflect on the fragility of life.
“Hearing from individuals who survived such horrific events made me reflect on how fragile life is and how quickly these ordinary moments can turn into chaos,” said Katoni. “As a college student, it resonated with me as I was imagining people around my age experiencing something so devastating,”
After trying to run, Asner found herself in a car of other festival-goers, having been separated from her friends, and they decided to drive out from a different road, with no clear indicator of a safe exit.
“This is the decision that saved my life.” Asner said. “It’s you take a right to the terrorist, or you take a left. You don’t know where is the terrorist because every place in this area, it’s with terrorists. We took the left side. I don’t know why. God helped me. I really, really believe this.”
Her faith shows in how she speaks of her new perspective of life, especially after having lost several close friends.
“I’m a person with a faith. So don’t think too much. If you want to do something, go and do that. And if you just want to say something for someone, don’t think too much, because the life is so short,” said Asner.
Luke Cohen, UM junior, reflected on his time in Israel this past summer, having visited the Nova site and met several individuals directly affected by Oct. 7. “I could picture the places we went, all the smiling faces, the happiness, and the excitement that were taken away in moments,” he said.
Cohen also spoke to the importance of relying on one another to find strength in community.
“They are here today and telling these stories because they leaned on their communities and their communities leaned back,” he said. “We have an opportunity to take these messages and share them with our communities to both strengthen them and live with hope that each day will be better than the last.”
Also speaking was Eitan Pritzker, a UM student from Atlanta who enlisted in the IDF as a lone soldier prior to Oct. 7. He reflected on his time in training and the bonds he fostered with his platoon of both Jews and Druze.
Pritzker drafted into the IDF in 2022 as a lone soldier — someone who does not have family in Israel. He learned Hebrew for three months as part of the lone soldier process. Following training, Pritzker served in the Search and Brigade unit. Their team responds to disasters around the globe.
“It’s essentially our job to save lives,” said Pritzker. “If there’s an earthquake anywhere in the world, Israel sends a team, and that’s us,” he said.
A year into his service, he had the opportunity to visit his family in the United States. On October 7, 2023, he received a call describing what was unfolding across the world. His base, Zikim, was under attack.
“Hamas soldiers got into the base. So at this point, most of the commanders are dead. You have a bunch of trainees in a base with nothing, they don’t know what to do. And so one of the soldiers decides to take another five with them, and they go and confront the Hamas soldiers,” said Pritzker. “These are people eighteen, nineteen years old, four months in the army, and they kill the three Hamas soldiers. It’s an incredible story.”
After returning to Israel on one of the first flights back, his service continued.
Pritzker explained that the goal of his service was “just trying to keep the peace” between Israeli civilians and Palestinian civilians. He was on guard in the West Bank and other fronts and used intelligence from spies to identify Hamas members.
Asner and Pritzker answered questions from the audience about the media controversy surrounding the war, where they get their strength to serve from and what makes them feel tied to Israel.
Ultimately their messages were of resilience, pride and strength.
“I will be unapologetically pro-Israel forever. I’m happy to share my experiences. I am very strong about my Judaism. That’s why I joined. And it doesn’t bother me. And it shouldn’t bother any of you,” said Pritzker.
At the end of the event everyone rose to sing Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, whose lyrics speak to the hope of the Jewish homeland — a hope of thousands of years that has not been lost.
Jayla Taub, UM senior said that the responsibility falls on students to continue sharing these stories out to the larger community.
“We are the ones who need to be speaking up, remembering, and sharing our voices and our light,” said Taub. “Events like these allow for us students to learn more from people’s personal experiences, and to get together and really feel support from a community that we are a part of.”
Asner hoped students left Hillel feeling empowered to take on the responsibility of bearing witness to these tragedies.
“Everyone here needs to share the story of the survivors and of Oct. 7, all the people, because this is the history of Israel, ” said Asner. “All of us, we have something to connect with. This is Israel.”