On February 22, over forty LM staff and students gathered in the Black Box to listen to Millet Ben Haim, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival Massacre. Several LM students found this event to be an opportunity to heal and gain a better understanding of the violence that took place on October 7.
Haim is part of a national project, The Faces of October Seventh, which funds survivors to travel to different campuses across the U.S and share the details of their experience. Haim recently left her life in Israel to share her story to both local and international press, hoping to leave her audience with a message of “positivity and hope.”
Social studies teacher and JSU sponsor Mark Levy, was encouraged by parents to invite Haim to speak at LM. Levy explains how important it is for people to “be challenged, to watch, and listen to things that might upset [them],” such as Haim’s story. He shared how important it is to avoid living in a sort of echo chamber and be able to listen “to dialogue outside our comfort zone.”
By sharing her story, Haim hopes to honor the legacies of those whose lives were lost in the attack. She encouraged students to “keep sticking to the belief that love will win.” This message resonated with students such as Jacob Gold ’25, who expressed gratitude, saying, “I appreciated that she took the time to come to our school and share her story.”
Haim vividly recounted her experience at the Nova music festival, typically a sanctuary to celebrate the Jewish holiday Sukkot, at the time of the attack. She described the festival as “a safe place” for her and her community to “celebrate life, to dance, [and] to be [themselves].” She went on to share details of how both she and three of her friends ran for their lives as “a massive barrage of rockets” rained through the air. Haim says she attempted to flee by car, but was forced to seek shelter by foot instead. She reports running through an open field towards who she thought were Israeli soldiers but were attackers in Israeli uniform. She was fortunate enough to notice the RPGs they were holding and hid behind a bush with her friends for over 2 hours. Various attempts were made to contact the police, however “they hung up” because “they [didn’t] have anyone to send.”
She and her friends were eventually rescued by Rami Davidian, a farmer who helped save several lives during the attack. Haim describes her experience as “one of those nightmares where you try to run fast, but you can’t, and you can feel that someone is about to grab you.” Despite her story, she emphasized the importance of having “more hope and [feeling] more powerful.” Noa Litcofsky ’25 mentions how important it is “for people to be educated.” Litcofsky went on to talk about the impact of hearing the story through someone who lived through it and not by “gathering information through social media.” She described the experience of listening to Haim as “inspiring yet so devastating to hear.”
In closing, Haim shared a quote by A.D. Gordon, “There will not be a victory of light over darkness until we recognize the simple truth that instead of fighting darkness we should try to turn up the light.”
