Agam Berger’s violin lights up 7 October ceremony

As we remember what was lost on 7 October 2023, Jewish people around the world are still feeling the pain of that day two years later, but there is also a sense of immense joy at what we got back. 

Nothing embodied this mix of emotions more than the commemoration ceremony hosted by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) in collaboration with the Israel Centre, a branch of the Jewish Agency; the World Zionist Organization; the Israeli embassy in South Africa; and the United Communal Fund; at Yeshiva College on 16 October. The Johannesburg community gathered not only to commemorate what was lost that day, but to celebrate the joy that has rocked the Jewish world since 13 October, when the last of the living hostages were released. 

“Two years, two years since the darkest dawn our generation has known. Two years since the sirens, the screams, and the silence of 1 200 Jewish souls butchered in their homes, on their kibbutzim, and at a music festival that is meant to celebrate life,” said Craig Pantanowitz, the acting national chairperson of the SAZF. “Seven October wasn’t just an attack on Israel, it was a declaration of war on every Jew. It was the message that the enemies of our people have never stopped chanting: that Jews don’t deserve to live free, safe, or sovereign. They failed then, and they will fail every single time, and every day that Israel stands strong and the Jewish people remain united.” 

“Two years later, the pain is still with us, but so is the strength that came out of it,” said Ariel Seidman, chargé d’affaires of the Israeli embassy in South Africa. “Out of the tragedy, we have seen tremendous resilience. Out of heartbreak, we have seen unity. The Jewish people have always known how to turn grief into purpose. Israelis came together in ways we haven’t seen in years. Jews around the world came together, and so the South African Jewish community. From the very beginning, you stood with us. You spoke up when it mattered the most and where it mattered the most. You comforted, you prayed, you gave support and strength.” 

Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein, said that two years after gathering on the Yeshiva College fields, we could now declare that “the state of Israel has won this war. Our hostages have been returned. The ceasefire has been agreed to. They have returned our hostages, and agreed to a ceasefire because they have been defeated, as King David says in the book of Psalms that G-d gives his people strength, and then he blesses his people with peace. Peace comes through strength. 

“There is peace today. There is a ceasefire because of the strength and the might of the state of Israel, with G-d’s blessings. Because all of our enemies have been defeated through their strength. Through the strength of the Israel Defense Forces and the bravery of the Air Force. The ground forces. The special forces. Iran has been defeated. Hezbollah has been defeated. Assad deposed the Houthis. Hamas, and even Qatar learned the lesson,” said Goldstein. 

The community didn’t only hear a musical tribute from a 20-piece orchestra directed by Jonathan Birin and conducted by Dan Selsick, it heard a performance by released hostage Agam Berger and her violin teacher, world-renowned violinist Ariella Zeitlin, who were brought to South Africa by the Israel Centre. 

Berger was raised in a traditional Jewish home, and when she was eight years old, a boy in her class brought a violin for show and tell, and she was immediately hooked and started playing at school ceremonies. 

When Berger entered the army, she was a lookout soldier on the border of Gaza. And on 7 October, terrorists stormed her base and dragged her and many of her friends across the border into Gaza, where she was beaten, starved, and hidden in homes. 

Zeitlin said that Berger held onto her faith even in captivity. She asked her captors for a siddur; kept Shabbat; and kept kosher the entire time she was held in captivity. 

“On 7 October, at the age of just 19, she made a final call to her father before being dragged to Gaza in her pyjamas. For 482 days, she was shuttled from one hiding place to another, enduring airstrikes, deprivation, and fear,” said Pantanowitz. “And yet she clung fiercely to her faith, keeping Shabbat, keeping kosher, praying, and even celebrating Passover in captivity. She did not break; she became stronger.” 

In Gaza, she became a source of strength for others, braiding the hair of her fellow hostages, tiny gestures that grew into a symbol of dignity and hope. Those braids have since become a movement across the Jewish world, synagogues, schools, and families, all braiding in her honour, turning her care into a banner of resilience. 

Berger’s parents encouraged people to start keeping Shabbat in honour of Berger’s return, and started lighting Shabbat candles and going to the mikvah. 

“Now, most of us, if we’re faced with a situation like that, when we’re faced with that level of darkness, we fall,” said Zeitlin. “But Agam had something that we could all use a little bit more of. She had faith in G-d. And faith helps us tell a different story. Faith helps us see that the darkness is just temporary. That the darkness is just the way that we expand our vessels, the way that we create more light one day in the world.” 

On the helicopter after her release, Berger held a sign that said, “I chose the path of faith, and in faith, I returned.” 

“This isn’t a sentence; it’s a creed for our people. Agam, when your violin sings tonight, it will be the voice of every hostage who has been returned. It will be the voice of every Jew who has ever faced down darkness and chosen life,” said Pantanowitz. 

Berger, with her violin that survived the Holocaust, played the songs Habaita and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, signalling that while we acknowledge joy, we have to acknowledge pain. 

Pantanowitz said that while celebrating the release of the hostages, the entire South African Jewish community felt the pain of seeing Captain Daniel Perez finally returning and being laid to rest. 

“Daniel’s return closes one wound, but his loss evens another. His courage reminds us that even in death, the Jewish soul cannot be taken hostage, and our heroes will always find their way home,” he said.