Next year, I will, once again, sow wheat, for the coming year will be better ~ Yakovi Inon No Revenge On the morning of February 20, 2024, nineteen of us from Silicon Valley, calling ourselves the South Bay Solidarity Mission to Israel, walked to the Abraham Hostel at 21 Levontin Street in Tel Aviv, and descended the stairs from the lobby to a basement meeting room. There we met Maoz Inon , one of the bravest and most inspiring people I’ve ever met. Maoz started his story with tragedy. On October 7, 2023, his parents, Yakov and Bilha Inon, were murdered in their home, a wooden house in Netiv HaAsara, along with 18 of their neighbors (out of a total population of about 900 people). Yakov was 78. Bilha was just shy of her 76 th birthday. According to Maoz’s brother Magen’s account , “My siblings and I received a short message from my parents saying that they could hear gunshots. They said they were safe inside the house and had locked the doors. This was the last time we heard from
On February 19, eighteen members of the South Bay Jewish community arrived in Israel for a mission of solidarity. Rabbis and professionals, past and current lay leaders from synagogues, schools, Unexeptable, and Jewish Silicon Valley joined together to bear witness, visit the sick and comfort the mourners. This blog will feature posts from participants to document and share what we have witnessed and experienced.