The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands
By Amir Tibon (Little, Brown)

Israeli journalist and author Amir Tibon hid with his wife and two young daughters for hours in a safe room in their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the border with Gaza, as Hamas terrorists devastated his community. Interspersing stories from the kibbutz and analysis of the political and military implications of the attack with an illuminating personal account, Tibon captures the horrors and fears that he and his family experienced that day. He also recounts the bravery of his father, retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon, as he tried to reach them. 

 

Shiva: Poems of October 7
Edited by Rachel Korazim, Michael Bohnen and Heather Silverman (The Institute for Jewish Research & Publications)

Emotional, powerful and illuminating, this anthology of poems in both Hebrew and English share the profound loss still felt by Israelis. Among the verses are shuddering cries of pain and rage as well as heartfelt pleas for understanding, such as in Israeli poet Itay Noy’s piece “Mom Is Always right”:

Mom said that when I grow up there will be no army.

Mom was right.

I haven’t yet grown up and already there was no army.

It wasn’t there when I heard the screaming outside.

It wasn’t there when I saw dad so scared and stressed…

Purchase a copy here. 

Az Yashir-We Will Sing Again: Women’s Prayers for Our Time of Need
Compiled and edited by Shira Lankin Sheps, Anne Gordon and Rachel Sharansky Danziger

This companion to the siddur compiled by Jewish women in Israel—scholars, writer, liturgists, activists and others—includes piyyutim and tefillot that address the needs of our time. Among them are prayers for a woman whose children are about to go to war, affirmations of Jewish pride in the face of antisemitism and supplications to the Divine for help with the unique mental and physical stress of the past year.

Purchase a copy here.

The Thinking Heart: On Israel and Palestine
By David Grossman (Vintage)

In these 11 essays, International Booker Prize-winning Israeli author and long-time peace activist David Grossman reflects on different questions surrounding the Hamas attack, from how the government and army of his beloved country could have allowed it to happen to thoughts about a day after the war.

 

Oct 7: The War Against Hamas Through the Eyes of an Israeli Commando Officer
By Capt. Elkana Cohen (Viva)

Reservist Elkana Cohen, head of an elite IDF fighting unit, went to Gaza in the aftermath of the Hamas attack. During his time there, he kept a handwritten diary of his experiences. His candid, first-person account describes the carnage and destruction, the bravery and comradery among Israeli soldiers fighting this war and the desperate attempts to search for the Israeli hostages and bring them home.

 

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