2nd July 2026 – 17 di Tammuz 5786

Thanks to my friend Shachar for this opportunity.

Yesterday evening, in a storm of rain, sweat and wind, I went to the Jewish Community in Bologna to listen to Dikla Mizrachi.

Dikla is a survivor mother, to this day she endured 1000 giorni of shock, excruciating pain, acceptance, responsibility for keeping her husband's and their children's pain in a loving emotional place, working on transforming it in something meaningful.

On October 7 2023 their son and brother Ben z’l was murdered in the Hamas terror attack in Israel. Ben was at the Nova Festival.

Dikla depicted little Ben to us, his personality, growing up with dreams and projects, enrolling in the IDF as medical team specialist, a field that reflected his character and vocation in helping others.

Then she could tell us about Ben's October7: that day, 1000 days ago, Ben chose to try and rescue some of the others who were being hunted and wounded in the Nova area. Thus sacrificing his chance to escape and save himself.

As part of Ben’s story—and by extension, the storia of hundreds of other victims—what struck me deeply was realizing just how important to hear the story of every single life is. Thank you, Dikla, and thank you to the Bologna Community for welcoming me and making me feel like part of the community

We remember the dead, and we honor their memory by saying, “May their memory be for a blessing.” Not in an abstract sense, as a wish that good things will rain down on us from heaven. Rather, we mean: may their memory be a blessing in helping us to take to heart at least one aspect, one way of acting, of the deceased that is enlightening and uplifting, and thus carry it forward and integrate it into our lives.

May Ben's memory be for a blessing.

May the memory of all the Jewish or Israeli people murdered on October 7 2023 be for a blessing for the Jewish People who live, and believe in life and protect it at great human cost, all around the world.

LiOr