Israel wants your October 7 artefacts

Long before October 7, Stefan Zweig, a prominent pacifist Jewish Austrian writer during the 1920s and 1930s, took significant steps to preserve his legacy by donating his writings to the National Library of Israel in 1934, as his books were being burned by the Nazis. Today, the National Library continues this tradition as the memory keeper of the Jewish people through a new initiative titled "Bearing Witness: Documenting October 7 and Its Aftermath."

Oren Weinberg, the CEO of the National Library of Israel (NLI), is currently visiting Australia to discuss this important project. The NLI has been dedicated to collecting and documenting Jewish history since 1892, and it now seeks to consolidate information from over 250 different projects related to the events of October 7. Unlike other historical events that were recorded primarily on paper, the aftermath of October 7 has been largely captured in digital formats—ranging from footage taken by Hamas on GoPro cameras to personal testimonies recorded on smartphones. The NLI aims to preserve this digital content before it risks being lost or deleted.

Weinberg is actively reaching out to the Australian Jewish community for support and contributions to this project. He encourages individuals in Australia to upload any relevant documentation to the NLI portal. This could encompass a wide array of materials, including podcasts discussing the impact of the war on the Australian Jewish community, letters to newspapers, photographs from solidarity rallies, personal reflections on Gaza or diary entries, and even screenshots of WhatsApp messages exchanged between Jews in Australia and Israel.

The overarching goal of the NLI is to create a comprehensive, reliable, and open repository that will facilitate evidence-based historical research while preserving testimonies for future generations. Unlike a museum exhibit or police investigation, this repository aims to serve as a national memory database that reflects a broad spectrum of experiences and documentation related to these events.

Moreover, this project holds the potential to address several critical questions about the future implications of October 7. It seeks to explore what will happen to those invisible Jews affected by these events, how it may influence the future of Zionism, and whether it will prompt significant changes in Jewish identity as did COVID and other significant world events.

Ultimately, Weinberg envisions that "Bearing Witness" will become much more than just an archive; he hopes it will solidify the library's role as a spiritual home for Jewish memory and provide a place of solace for individuals processing their experiences from the past year. Seeing the thousands of visitors from Israel and across the world who visit the library for tours of its impressive collection each day, it’s clear that the library is well on its way to achieving this goal.

At the library's entrance, empty chairs great every visitor, each cradling a cherished book beloved by a hostages in Gaza. The chair with Hersh, which had a book by the Dalai Lama, was sadly removed last month. The chair for Naama Levy, carrying the book “Come in Peace,” is still there.

On the other side of the library, an electronic tapestry of faces and names flickers, a glowing memorial to lives lost on October 7. On this wall, the past is not merely captured, but also becomes a space to process grief and pain.

As the library stands poised between yesterday's sorrows and tomorrow's hopes, it embarks on its most profound journey yet—to sculpt the very contours of future memory.

Two public events will be held to introduce the community to the Bearing Witness project and the National Library of Israel:

•           Melbourne - Lamm Jewish Library of Australia, Thursday 26th September, 10:00 am

•           Sydney - Sydney Jewish Museum in collaboration with Australian Jewish Historical Society, Monday 30th September, 5:45 pm

Upload any documentation to the National Library of Israel here.