Students participated in a 1.07-mile walk from the OSU Hillel Building — located at 46 E. 16th Ave. — and finished at the Browning Amphitheater at 6:29 a.m. Monday to observe the anniversary of Oct. 7 2023. Credit: Kyrie Thomas | Campus LTV Producer
Ohio State University Hillel led a silent walk of 1.07 miles Monday, observing the one-year anniversary of the attack by Hamas on Israel that led to the deaths of 1,200 Israelis.
The campus walk began at 6:29 a.m., the same time as the attacks last year, said Jordan Vandersluis, an attendee of the walk and a fourth-year in speech and hearing sciences.
“A year ago today, our friends in Israel went to sleep and were woken up to rockets at 6:29 in the morning, and the rest of the world still hadn’t heard about it,” Vandersluis said. “To simply wake up early and just go on a walk where there was no danger, no harm, felt like something small we could do to commemorate this moment.”
The walk, which began at the OSU Hillel building — located at 46 E. 16th Ave. — and finished at the Browning Amphitheater — located at 1760 Neil Ave. — had 75 students in attendance, said Matt Levine, a third-year in finance and OSU Hillel member.
Following the walk, Levine said he, alongside other members of the Jewish community, spoke and led prayers to honor the specific day and the past year of the war.
“The main thesis of what I said this morning was to be who you need to be,” Levine said. “This day, we’re sort of wondering, at least I was wondering, ‘How am I supposed to mark this day? Would it be okay to go to class or study for an exam? Would it be okay to still be able to laugh?’”
Vandersluis said the conclusion of Levine’s speech advised Jewish students to embrace their complex emotions and allow themselves to openly feel the anniversary’s weight without any expectations.
“I felt like I’ve been nonstop,” Vandersluis said. “I’ve been trying to stand up strong for my community, and today I really just kind of fell into the sadness of Oct. 7 and the sadness of the reality in Israel.”
Although the event took place on Ohio State’s campus, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said in a statement that “an event of this type typically doesn’t require [a space reservation.]”
“[Ohio State] support[s] the rights of students, faculty, staff and visitors to exercise their freedom of speech and expression,” Johnson said.
Vandersluis said she feels the right to grieve the lives lost in the persisting war in Gaza is a privilege that many people within the Jewish community haven’t experienced.
“I haven’t felt like there’s a place in public or in the media for the Jews to sit and mourn,” Vandersluis said. “For us, it’s kind of constantly felt like a fight to find our place and have sadness about what’s going on with our friends and family.”
Though physically separated from the conflict, Levine said Ohio State’s Jewish community is “intrinsically connected to Israel,” making Oct. 7, 2023 and the year that followed it a tragic reality that has impacted countless people’s lives.
“You know, I pray that the war ends very soon because it’s a tragedy all around,” Levine said. “I pray for return of hostages. I pray for the end of the war and for the end of the killing.”
A memorial to commemorate the anniversary was also held at 5 p.m. in the OSU Hillel building, however, the Lantern was asked to leave, as media presence was not permitted. Levine declined to comment on the organization’s decision.
The war in Gaza began Oct. 7, 2023 after Hamas — a Palestinian militant group — entered neighboring Israeli towns on a major Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah, where about 1,200 people were killed, according to NPR.
Israel declared war the next day and launched airstrikes on Gaza, destroying entire neighborhoods and killing thousands of Palestinian civilians in the months that followed, with the current death toll surpassing 41,000, according to the Associated Press.
This war is a continuation of a 76-year conflict since Israel’s creation in 1948, with previous Israel-Hamas wars in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021, according to the Associated Press.
Now a year prior, Oct. 7, 2023 serves as a marker for the initial Hamas-led attacks into Israel’s security fence, according to the Associated Press. The attacks resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals and the abduction of 250.
This story was updated Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 10:08 a.m. to include a more accurate description of the nature of space reservations from university spokesperson Ben Johnson.
