Two Years After October 7, We Cannot Look Away

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Mass trauma is no longer the exception.  It has become the reality of our time. Two years after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, Israel is still carrying wounds that in some ways have deepened and worsened after two years of war. The brutality of that day — families slaughtered, children kidnapped, entire communities destroyed — reverberates through every corner of Israeli society. Israel is a nation of trauma survivors.

I know this firsthand. I am the executive director of OneFamily, an organization born out of terror and built on love. OneFamily’s story began more than two decades ago when a terrorist exploded himself in a busy family restaurant in Jerusalem. Twelve-year-old Michal Belzberg, the daughter of OneFamily founders Marc and Chantal Belzberg, originally from Riverdale in the Bronx, New York, dedicated her bat mitzvah not to herself, but to the victims. She visited the wounded, sat with grieving families, and turned a private celebration into a public act of compassion. That decision became the DNA of OneFamily.

4,000 Newly Bereaved Families

Since October 7, the need has been staggering. More than 4,000 newly bereaved and wounded families have joined the thousands already under OneFamily’s care. The organization has tripled in size to meet the demand, providing counseling, financial assistance, legal support, and something even more powerful: the assurance that no one must grieve alone. This is where OneFamily, Israel’s leading organization supporting victims of terror, has stepped in. For more than two decades, it has been called the nation’s “emotional Iron Dome” — not because it shields from rockets, but because it protects against despair.

Walking Beside Survivors

From the start, OneFamily learned something simple but profound: when someone’s world collapses, you do not look away. You step in. You sit beside them. Not to erase their pain, but to carry it with them. For more than 20 years, OneFamily has stood with victims of terror and war in Israel. We have walked alongside thousands of bereaved parents, widows, orphans, siblings, and wounded soldiers. Each one’s trauma ripples far beyond the moment of the attack, reshaping relationships, identity, and the future itself.

Our approach is holistic: we do not just support the most visibly grieving; we care for the entire family. A grieving mother, a teenage son, a grandparent — each require something different. We send “professional friends,” not bureaucrats with forms, to show up, listen, and remain for as long as needed. Some families need us for months. Others, for years.

Community as Healing

Once trust is built, survivors join communities of shared loss: bereaved parents, widows raising young children, siblings who lost a twin, orphans raising one another. In these circles, no one has to explain their pain. They are understood before they even speak. That is where true healing begins — not in isolation, but in community. We also bring victims to therapeutic retreats in Israel and abroad. In the past 18 months, more than 1,700 survivors have found strength together in places as far as Sri Lanka and Bulgaria. These retreats remind them — and us — that healing is not only possible but must be sustained.

The Call of October 7

With the second anniversary of October 7, there will be a temptation to relegate it to the past. But for those who survived, October 7 is not history. It is every day. Parents still grieve children. Children still wake to nightmares. Widows still raise toddlers alone. The lesson of OneFamily is clear: compassion is not a short-term response. It is a long-term commitment. Trauma lingers; so must our solidarity. The world cannot look away. Not now. Not ever.

To learn more about OneFamily, visit onefamilyfundus.org.

About OneFamily

Founded by Marc and Chantal Belzberg in 2001, OneFamily is Israel’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to supporting bereaved families and victims of terror. Through comprehensive programs and services, OneFamily provides emotional, financial, and legal assistance, helping individuals and families rebuild their lives in the aftermath of tragedy. To support OneFamily’s care for the survivors of terrorism, visit overcometerror.com.

Photo credits: ©Getty Images/Luke Franzen