Toronto’s Jewish community is coming together to mourn and is calling for allyship as it marks one year since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel that triggered a war that is still raging on.
“This is an incredibly painful day for the Jewish community in Toronto, but also the Jewish community around the world,” Sara Lefton, chief development officer at UJA Federation, told reporters at a news conference Monday morning ahead of a planned vigil in North York that is expected to draw tens of thousands of people.
It was early in the morning a year ago that Hamas militants stormed into Israel, attacking families in their homes and participants at a music festival in the desert. The attacks left some 1,200 Israeli civilians dead, while Hamas took around 250 others as hostages, including elderly people and small children.
‘Shock of that day is still so fresh’
Eight Canadians were killed in the Oct. 7 attack: Tiferet Lapidot, Judih Weinstein, Vivian Silver, Shir Georgy, Adi Vital-Kaploun, Netta Epstein, Alexandre Look, and Ben Mizrachi.
Local residents who lost family members and loved ones in the attack, and some who still have family members being held, spoke out in Toronto Monday.
“It’s incredibly difficult to reconcile that a year has already passed,” Toronto resident Maureen Leshem told CP24 Breakfast. Leshem’s cousin, Romi Gonen, was abducted from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 and is still being held hostage in Gaza.
“On the one hand, it feels like it was just yesterday, and in the same moment, it feels like an eternity ago. The fear and the confusion and the shock of that day is still so fresh, because Romi is still being held against her will, and there are so many unknowns, so many questions and very little answers.”
Over the summer, the family held a birthday gathering to mark Romi’s 24th birthday in absentia.
They have received proof she’s alive but know little else about her state.
“We don’t have a choice,” Leshem said when asked how they can remain optimistic. “You know, what would you do if this was your child or your friend or your parent?”
Maayan Shavit’s cousin, 40-year-old Carmel Gat, was abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 and was found dead in a Hamas tunnel in Rafah last month. Gat’s mother, Kinneret, was killed in the initial attack on Kibbutz Be’eri.
“I’m still at the anger stage, I think, or the disbelief,” Shavit told CP24. “Carmel was supposed to be home on several occasions, several deals that were broken or did not happen.”
Shavit had publicly campaigned for her cousin’s release for most of the past year.
“We thought not if she’s coming home but when she’s coming home,” Shavit said. “And then suddenly, it was just chopped. That’s what killed us the most, is the way it happened.”
Harel Lapidot also spoke Monday ahead of the UJA vigil. His niece, Tiferet Lapidot, was murdered on Oct. 7.
“Tiferet was our sunshine. We miss her every day,” he said.
The last time his family heard from Tiferet was the morning of Oct. 7, when she called her mother while under siege around 9 a.m. to tell her that she loved her.
“Tiferet was a happy young woman that was just dancing in a festival, in a peace festival,” her uncle said. “She didn’t have anything to do with the army, she wasn’t a part of the I.D.F. (Israel Defense Forces). Just a few months before, she volunteered for kids with special needs – Muslims, Christians – in South Africa.”
Pain of the war ‘felt deeply’ in Toronto
The attack marked the largest single-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Israel’s military response in Gaza has weakened Hamas but has also left some 41,000 Palestinians dead according to Gaza health officials. Those living in the bombarded strip are also facing food shortages and outbreaks of disease.
Israel has also carried out airstrikes in Lebanon as part of a conflict with Hezbollah.
Dalia El Farrah lives in the GTA and has family in Gaza. She told CP24 Monday that the past year has been “a nightmare.”
“It’s really, really hard to articulate just how they’re doing because it’s been a horrific nightmare year for everyone,” she said. “Food is scarce, water is scarce, no medical supplies get in. Most of them have had to relocate multiple times.”
She said between her relatives and those of her children, they have lost close to 200 family members.
“These are not statistics. These are people. These are humans,” she said.
Palestinian students at a number of schools in the GTA staged walk-outs Monday over the ongoing war. A large rally was also held at Queen’s Park Monday afternoon calling for a ceasefire.
The war has triggered waves of protest around the world that have sometimes targeted Jewish businesses, community spaces, schools and places of worship in the GTA.
Toronto has seen more than 1,500 protests related to the war over the past year, according to Toronto police, with some 72 people arrested.
Pro-Palestinian groups have contended that they are not targeting Jews, rather those with affiliations with Israel. However the effect is the same, say some community members.
“So many Canadian Jews have relationships, family, friends who are in Israel. So many lives were lost tragically, people who were killed. And we feel it deeply here in Toronto as well,” Lefton said. “Since that very, very dark day, we’ve also had to face rising extremism in our streets here in Toronto, and as Jews, it has been terrifying to look around and to see so many people who are constantly speaking about Jews in a way that that alienates us and calls for harm to our community.”
According to Toronto police, hate crimes are up 40 per cent compared to this time last year with a total of 350 occurrences so far in 2024. The greatest increase, according to police, has been hate crimes against the Jewish community (69 per cent).
In May, the hate crime unit was called in after shots were fired at a Jewish girls’ school in North York. They were also called to investigate several months earlier following a suspected arson at a Jewish-owned deli.
Lefton called on all residents of the city to reject hatred and alienation as the war continues to rage on.
“We are asking for our allies to stand with us, not just on this day, but every day. We are asking for people to use their voices and to speak out against hate,” she said. “Hate is not acceptable in this country. It’s not acceptable for any group, and it’s not acceptable against the Jewish community. We are proud Canadians.”
Police forces in the Toronto stepped up their presence in Jewish and Muslim communities ahead of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack.
In Toronto, police have set up mobile command units in three predominantly Jewish neighbourhoods along Bathurst Street, including posts at Glencairn, Sheppard, and Finch avenues. A fourth mobile command post, meanwhile, has been deployed to various Toronto mosques.
More than 150 Jewish community groups are expected to take part in the vigil to commemorate the Oct. 7 anniversary Monday.
Lefton said the ceremony is meant to “remember those whose lives were brutally taken on Oct. 7, and also stand together and pray for peace in the time ahead.”
She said representatives from all levels of government will also be in attendance, along with those who survived the attack and local family members of some hostages.
She also noted that while it’s been a year since the attack that sparked the war, the situation is still unfolding.
“We still have more than 100 hostages, including family members of Canadians who are in Gaza being held by Hamas,” she said. “This is a situation that still continues now, and so we need to not just remember those who have been lost, but think now about how we all can work together to bring the hostages home and to make sure that Jews around the world can live in safety.”