All high school minyans participated in a Torah study to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks and commemorate the tragedy’s second anniversary. Each minyan read a portion from the five books of the Torah, collectively completing all 54 weekly parshiyot. 

A larger, but similar, siyyum was held last year, during which the entire Heschel community (including parent volunteers, teachers, and younger classes) completed studying the entire Tanakh. This year, the commemoration was much more intimate and involved student planning to distribute the learning.  

Senior Navah Luxenberg took charge of distributing the parshiyot for the Egalitarian minyan, which studied Devarim. This minyan decided to study the last chapter of the Torah as a group. 

Luxenberg said, “We all studied the last chapter in Vezot Habracha as a minyan and discussed it together.” When asked about the minyan’s intention while learning together, Luxenberg said, “For me it was really meaningful to study the closing of the Torah, which includes the death of Moshe, with the memory of the 1219 people killed on October 7th.” 

Every student who took part in the siyyum dedicated their learning to the memory of the victims murdered on Oct. 7, as well as the newly returned hostages. 

Senior Hannah Wurzburger said, “Studying Torah with the hostages in mind felt very fulfilling. I’m grateful for the opportunity to focus on Oct. 7 in this meaningful way while maintaining hope for the returning hostages.”