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October 7, 2023, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. ~1,200 killed, ~250 hostages taken from Israeli kibbutzim, the Nova festival, and Gaza-border towns. The IDF response, Operation Iron Swords (חַרְבוֹת בַּרְזֶל), became the longest war in Israeli history. The vocabulary of this period entered Hebrew permanently. Lesson 71 references this; this lesson covers the language of the post-Oct-7 reality.
Cultural note, The phrase "ה-7 בָּאוֹקְטוֹבֵּר" (the 7th of October) needs no further specification, every Israeli knows. "מָסַר אַחֲרוֹן", "the last message", refers to the texts that hostages and victims sent before being killed or kidnapped. The Hostage Square (כִּכָּר הַחֲטוּפִים) became the moral center of the country. Saying "I served in this war" carries weight.
October 7 Vocabulary
Hostages (Chatufim)
Operation Iron Swords
The Front Lines
Civil Society Response
The Morning of October 7: Eyewitness Account
A composite first-person account of the morning of October 7, 2023, Saturday morning, Simchat Torah holiday, when sirens sounded across southern Israel and Hamas crossed into Israeli territory.
Hostage Square: Saturday Night Vigil
Phrases said at the weekly Hostage Square vigils. Hundreds of thousands attended for months. The reading of names. The candles. The promise.