For the first time since Oct. 7, 2023, at memorial events remembering the lives lost in the Hamas attacks on southern Israel, there were no hostages in Gaza and no yellow ribbons for the 251 people who were kidnapped that day. Instead, at Beth Tzedec Congregation, where Toronto’s remembrance evening was held, the stage was covered with 1,200 candles, symbolizing the number of people killed in Israel, including eight Canadians.

Police chiefs and senior officers from Toronto and the surrounding municipalities, MPPs, city councillors and regional mayors occupied the front rows. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, currently running for re-election, was flanked by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw. Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford’s entrance before the start of the ceremony was greeted by cheers and applause, but the evening was focused on remembrance and not politics.

Chen Almog, the evening’s keynote speaker, who had attended the Nova music festival, where 378 people were killed, recalled the confusion and fear as terrorists invaded early on the morning of Oct. 7.  Almog described not only the horrors of three years ago, but her own journey to “finding my way back to myself, with the help of the people who refused to give up on me.”

Chen Almog, who survived the Hamas attack on the Nova festival on Oct.7, 2023 spoke at a memorial evening in Toronto, Oct. 7, 2026. (Credit: UJA Federation of Greater Toronto)

Pausing several times to wipe away tears and compose herself, Almog, who was 21 at the time and nearing the end of her IDF service, spoke about hearing rockets overhead and then trying to flee with her friend in her car.

They were stuck in traffic trying to leave the festival, and they started to hear shooting and saw people running from their cars. She became separated from her friend, and found herself alone, hiding in a bush.

“Most of what I remember from these hours is what I heard. People calling for help, people screaming that they were hurt, then a gunshot and then silence,” she said.

From her hiding place she heard people speaking Arabic. “It sounded as though they were enjoying what they were doing. I was afraid of them. I was afraid even to breathe.”

Hours later, when the gunfire sounded farther away, she began looking for her abandoned car and came across another friend who was trying to escape the chaos. “Around us, there was destruction, broken windows, damaged cars and the smell of burning tires and bodies. I saw a woman crying over her partner. He was dead, but she did not want to let him go. I saw bodies that had been shot with him, and those images stayed with me.”

After a perilous journey and narrowly avoiding terrorists at nearby Kibbutz Be’eri, Almog made her way home and soon after rejoined her IDF unit. But within a few months, she realized she wasn’t coping with the trauma. She moved to the United States, where she says she experienced antisemitism for the first time, and began working with a therapist.

“I want to leave you all with hope,” she said. “I survived October 7. Then I had to live with what I survived. That has taken time, help and so much knowledge. And today, I can stand here and tell you that I have found beauty in life again.”

Almog told The CJN that it was the first time her parents had seen her speak publicly about her experiences. “I was nervous and I was excited and I really wanted them to be proud of me, and they were,” she said. “I saw them crying, but, like, good crying.”

Nadav Zysblat, the newly arrived Israeli consul general for Toronto and Western Canada, struck a similar note of mourning and resilience.

“It’s been three years since October 7, and we have come upon so many challenges. The nightmares that we have heard from our grandmas, from our grandfathers, about Jews being outcasts, Jews being persecuted, Jews being shot at are now part of our reality. Many of us feel angry, many of us feel tired and many, so many of us, are feeling scared. There are those who say that there is nothing that we can do,” he said. “Perhaps for our foes, this is exactly what they would want us to feel.”

“We all saw in Belleville, just a couple of weeks ago, what is at stake. But we also saw the heroism of Constable Jeff Smith,” Zysblat said as the audience stood and applauded for a full minute.

Smith was seriously injured in a gunbattle outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Ont., minutes before Kol Nidrei prayers were to begin. The attacker died of his injuries, but no one inside the synagogue—which was pierced by numerous bullets—or in nearby homes was injured.

“I am committed to working with you, all of you, together, to make sure that our communities thrive, that Israel profits and that the relationship between Israel and Canada will bear fruit for both our people,” Zysblat said.

Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, spoke to The CJN after the event about the significance of having politicians and police officers attend the evening. “It’s incumbent on all of our elected leaders to take a stand against that hate, that extremism and that violence that threatens us and all Canadians. When the shooter attacked the synagogue in Belleville, those bullets did not only hit the synagogue. They hit the neighbours as well,” he said. “It’s imperative that our political leaders stand shoulder to shoulder with us in the face of that.

“And I think it’s poignant the expression of gratitude, the standing ovation for the Belleville police officers who put their lives on the line to protect the people at the congregation there, and for the police services across the country, who are deploying officers to protect neighbourhoods and communities and to push back against that extremism.

“We’ve seen here in Toronto with the murder of (Const.) Marc Pinizzotto, in the course of an investigation related to shootings, including the synagogue shootings here in Toronto and, of course, Const. Jeff Smith, who faces a long road to recovery … that police are confronted with these very same threats and we’re very grateful for them standing in front of us, protecting us and we recognize the sacrifice they make.”

Earlier in the day, Toronto Police reported that small Israeli flags, placed outside the Faith International Christian Centre, had been set on fire overnight and that the Hate Crime Unit was investigating.

“Faith International Christian Centre has stood with the Jewish community and with Israel. To see that solidarity answered with fire is a disturbing reminder that hatred does not stop with Jews. Increasingly, those who stand beside us are being targeted too,” CIJA said in a press release.