For weeks after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, Neta Meltzer of Overland Park, Kansas, struggled to sleep, eat and cope with the images flashing across her TV: Footage of young Jews massacred at a music festival, bloodied rape victims being carried off by Hamas terrorists, and photos of once-joyful families who’d been murdered in their homes.
Like most Jewish residents of Greater Kansas City, the Israeli-born Meltzer, 36, found herself grappling daily with the horrors of Oct. 7 — trauma that left her emotionally “eviscerated” and still feels raw for many Jews as they prepare to mark one year since the attacks. As the interim executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau | American Jewish Committee, she has spent much of the past year combating local antisemitism in the wake of the attack and war.
“The biggest change I’ve felt since Oct. 7 is that we can never go back. We’re still in an Oct. 8 reality, and that makes it really challenging to grapple with,” Meltzer said. “It’s hard to reflect on one year since Oct. 7, because Oct. 7 isn’t over yet.”
Thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, on Simchat Torah. They burned victims alive, slaughtered children, and used gang-rape as a weapon at the Nova Music Festival, held in a field about three miles from the Gaza border. The attackers also whisked around 250 hostages into Gaza, including dozens of victims Israel says are still alive in captivity.
Oct. 7 marked the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust and indelibly changed the lives of many in Kansas City’s Jewish community, especially those with close ties to Israel, interviewees from across the area told The Chronicle.
Reflecting on the approaching one-year anniversary of the attacks, some said the violence shattered their sense of safety as Jews and challenged long-held assumptions about Israel’s security. Others said Oct. 7 served to strengthen Jewish people’s identities and communal bonds in Kansas City, inspiring some to become more observant.
All said the ongoing, unprecedented surge in antisemitism across the U.S. – accompanied by widespread anti-Israel protests – have impacted their communities.
“We are a Jewish family, and we take the joy and the pain together — when something happens in Israel, we as a family feel pain wherever we are,” said Sam Nachum, owner of Jerusalem Stone, a Kansas City business that imports natural stone from Israel. “We’re trying to keep this family and not be dispersed again, and Oct. 7 was a big warning.”
Born in Jerusalem, Nachum, 67, moved to Kansas City in 1978 and later co-founded Let Children Play for Peace. The organization’s efforts led to the collection of hundreds of toys in Kansas City that were delivered equally among children in Gaza and the Israeli city of Sderot in 2012.
Despite Nachum’s work toward peaceful co-existence with Palestinians, Israel-haters sent written threats to him and other volunteers in an effort to stop them from representing Israel at this year’s Ethnic Enrichment Festival in Kansas City, multiple interviewees said.
The annual festival counted among the numerous cultural events that have faced threats and boycotts in the U.S. since Oct. 7, solely because of their links to Israel or Jews.
“We got threats from people telling us, ‘We dare you to open your booth. We dare you to have a tent for Israel,’” Nachum said. “Some of the festival volunteers said, ‘What should we do?’ And my thought was, ‘We have to do what we’ve done before and not change it.’”
Extra security personnel stood sentry as the volunteers, undeterred, served falafel and celebrated Israeli culture. Nachum said the experience served as a reminder that Jews should not hide their identity, nor change their lives to appease antisemites.
Nachum’s family is among the estimated 200 to 250 Israeli families living in Greater Kansas City, according to local Jewish leaders.
“To be a light unto the nations, you cannot hide in the dark,” Nachum said. “I think that’s what’s happening to a lot of Jewish people – they’re trying to hide from the situation since Oct. 7. My thought is, ‘No, you don’t have to hide. We hid in Germany. Here, we should not.’”
The barbarity of the Oct. 7 attacks, coupled with widespread demonization of Israel on social media and rising public antisemitism, have impacted demand for mental health services in many U.S. Jewish communities, including Kansas City’s.
Moshit Snir, a social worker with Jewish Family Services (JFS), has worked with Jewish clients reeling from the attacks and their aftermath. She also helped launch a support group for Kansas City Jews adjusting to a post-Oct. 7 world.
“It felt like a time when we needed to be among our community, our friends and the families that we choose for ourselves because we’re so far away from our own families in Israel,” said Snir, 48, who emigrated from central Israel to Kansas City in 2008.
Snir helped organize a series of Kansas City vigils for the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, as well as a recent memorial for six of the murdered hostages. The fate of the abductees, who’ve described enduring sexual assaults, starvation, and physical and psychological abuse, has been front of mind for many Israel-supporters in Kansas City.
For months, Galit Israeli, 53, of Loch Lloyd, Missouri, wore a piece of tape on her chest showing the number of days Israeli hostages spent in Hamas custody.
“It’s been very hard for us,” said Israeli, who was visiting Israel with her husband Alex when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7. “It was unbelievable, unbearable.”
The couple, who co-own European Market Cafe in Overland Park, have a son serving in the Israeli Air Force and took part in a nationwide volunteer effort in Israel after the attacks.
Alex Israeli, 52, who formerly served in the Israel Defense Forces, said his thoughts are with those fighting Israel’s multi-front war.
“Israel is a very small country fighting terrorists on many fronts — Hamas in Gaza; Syria; Hezbollah in Lebanon; terrorists in the West Bank; Houthis in Yemen; and the Iranian regime with hundreds of missiles,” he said. “For Israel, this is a difficult war for its very existence.”
Yosef Silver, who lived in Israel for five years before relocating to Overland Park in 2011, said the terror wrought on Oct. 7 was reminiscent of accounts of anti-Jewish violence in pre-state Israel.
“The way that people were murdered and attacked, things like that haven’t happened in our lifetime,” said Silver, 39, who founded the Jewish community organization Gather KC.
Silver, originally from the United Kingdom, said Israeli friends were visiting him in Overland Park on Oct. 7. Unable to return to their community in Jerusalem because of flight cancellations caused by Hamas’ attacks and the war, they stayed in his home for 10 weeks until they were able to fly home.
“It was a time for people to come together and care for each other,” Silver said.
The way Jews sought out and helped their brethren after Oct. 7 illustrates how differences in politics and observance matter less when the Jewish world faces crises, interviewees said.
“What it shows is that there’s not just one side or one type of person who can provide support or understands what the Jewish community is going through, or is an ally to the community,” said Meltzer, the JCRB|AJC executive. “We can find that anywhere we look. And that’s really special.”
