OCTOBER 19 • 2023 | 69
J
N

Resilience in the 
 Face of Tragedy
A

t weekly JN editorial meetings, I usually report about the topic 
of my next Looking Back column. The heinous Hamas attack on 
Israel last Saturday, on Oct. 7, changed everything. This week, I 
wasn’t sure as to what I would write about.
At this week’s meeting, the attack dominated our conversations, our minds and our emo-
tions, along with an abrupt need to revamp the focus of this issue. How do we 
report this brutal conflict to our readers? What can we do to help? Personally, 
what would I write about this week? All my ideas for future columns seem triv-
ial now.
As any reader of Looking Back knows, I write about a wide range of top-
ics about the history of Jewish Detroit and Israel. Some are serious, some are 
light-hearted, and some deal with current issues facing the Detroit, American 
and Israeli Jewish communities. But to date, I’ve not written a column in the 
aftermath of any tragedy of this magnitude in Israeli history.
As the Alene and Graham Landeau Archivist for the Detroit Jewish News Foundation, 
I have read many historic pages from the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish 
Detroit History. Unfortunately, among those pages are thousands of stories about attacks 
on Israel, the wars the nation has fought over its 75 years, to say nothing of acts of 
antisemitism and domestic assaults on Jews. It is history we need to know, in my opinion, 
but terrible reading, nonetheless.
There are, however, no stories that cover anything like the events on Oct. 7. The day 
was unprecedented. As Israeli President Isaac Herzog noted, nothing like this tragedy 
had occurred for Jews since the Holocaust. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett stat-
ed that it is “the harshest event since the War of Independence.” 
It wasn’t a military assault, a clash of armies. It was an act of terrorism beyond despi-
cable. In this digital age, we can all see images of the murder and destruction conduct-
ed by terrorists who gleefully ravaged Israel and murdered innocent Israelis — along 
with Americans and other visitors. 
And, there are people who defend and justify these acts? I expect to see such rallies 
in Iran, but in America and other western nations? Where, in a morbid twist of irony, 
these people can protest in freedom? I read about this, but I cannot comprehend such 
thinking that cheers terrorism.
The pages of the Davidson Archive, however, hold other stories beyond the details of the 
conflicts themselves. They speak of one key Israeli and Jewish trait — resilience. During and 
after the Holocaust, the 1948 War for Independence, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and over the 
past 30 years, dealing with intifadas, bombings and rockets from the Gaza Strip.
The truth is that I am still not sure what I should write about this week. The entire JN staff 
are saddened but continue to follow the current events in Israel. President Joe Biden summed 
up the core issue of the attack for us this past Monday: “It is personal for so many American 
families,” and that Americans “remember the pain of being attacked by terrorists at home.” 
It is personal. We hope for the best for all our friends and family in Israel and in Detroit. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN archives, available for free at thejewishnews.com.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at thejewishnews.com