The atrocities perpetrated by thousands of Hamas terrorists and the Gazans who happily joined them on October 7, 2023 are an indelible stain on the history of the human race.
There are, as expected, already books, videos and podcasts memorializing the unspeakable event, those who fell victim to it, those who took part in it and its aftermath (including a wonderful children’s book about individual courageous acts), and as time goes on, there will certainly be more.
But Dr. Moshe Kaplan, head of the Be A Mensch project which works to spread tolerance, respect, kindness and consideration for others by bringing disparate sectors of Israeli society together to talk about differences as well as about common identity, values and purpose, approached the issue with a specific goal in mind. He has written and compiled a book of opinion articles, reports and essays called “Extreme Trauma: October 7 as an Outlier in the Range of Human Potential” in which he sets out to achieve two main purposes:
One, to ensure that the horrors of October 7th - with Hamas the outlier in barbarity -are not minimized, ignored or forgotten, which he does by bringing data and thorough - if horrifying - reports. Two, to show how the innate resilience of the Jewish people - outliers when it comes to the ability to cope - can lead to renewed hope and efforts to rebound and build a better future as it always has in the past. He shows that these opposite poles of behavior were evident at the very scenes of the massacre when Israelis from all over the country rushed to help.
Dr. Kaplan works to see human potential employed to achieve progress towards the goal of bettering one’s own self and all of society. Compare this to the thousands of terrorists and accompanying Gazan civilians who invaded Israel on October 7 to realize a different goal, their mission committing depraved acts of cruelty on as many human beings as possible in the shortest amount of time.
The contrast is overwhelming and mindboggling.
The unique perspective of this book contrasts the two and, without whitewashing descriptions of what transpired, shows how in the midst of the barbarism there were people who committed acts of supreme bravery. There were and are those who took on the fight for the world to recognize what had been done to the people of the Gaza Envelope, many of them Israelis who befriended their Gazan neighbors and were rewarded by being tortured and murdered in unspeakable ways. Add to that the foreign workers and the horrific fate of hundreds of the young adults innocently dancing for peace at the Nova Festival.
Fittingly, the book introduces its theme with an essay on greatness by the late renowned psychiatrist Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski who believed that humans can approach greatness by utilizing those potentials unique to mankind that define what he calls the “human spirit.” He further believed that they achieve spirituality when acting upon them. This article is followed by the stories of heroes whose bravery and caring illustrated that thesis in action.
October 7th has to be seen against the backdrop of the worldwide cancerous growth of antisemitism, and the support for Hamas as the result of a spiders’ web of propaganda, baldfaced lies and hoaxes denying unshakable truths. The writer presents a clear exposition of the Big Lies, how they are multiplied, how they spread, and how Israel tries to counteract them.
In the following section, the motifs brought above are analyzed in a first-rate selection of articles, from an analysis of Hamas tactics and a description of its evil society on to global reactions and comparisons with 9/11 and even Charles Manson. Two of the articles that appear were written by Arutz Sheva veteran reporter Gary Willig and, in my opinion, are significant and worthwhile reading.
Kaplan then takes on the most appalling aspect of Hamas’ barbarity, its psychopathological weaponization of sexual abuse, methodically recording and analying the phenomenon and the world’s sneering silence, including the blatant hypocrisy of politicized feminist organizations.
The book, however, doesn’t stop there. It goes on to its goal of encouraging and describing the hard-to-believe phenomenon of Israel’s nationwide resilience (If you are unfamiliar with Dr. Mriam Adelson’s writings, her included essay is the place to start), while the descriptions of the evils from which it emerges make it an evident, unifying miracle. Yes, as Dr. Kaplan writes, we are stronger together, and as history would have it, we are meeting the test of that unity in the current Operation Rising Lion against the murdeous Islamic Republic of Iran, another example of the human potential for choosing evil instead of greatness.
Is the reality of human nature a propensity for committing evil? It even seems to say so in Genesis 8:21. A look at history shows that Hamas would feel right at home participating in the Roman army atrocities, the death camps of the Nazis, the Cossack pogroms, Chechen cruelties, Iranian dungeon tortures and could even teach the previous generations of barbarians a thing or two. It is shocking to realize that Jews thought the world, at least the West, was past that and suddenly discovered that much of the West is on the side of the terrorist butchers.
It was worse than other historical horrors somehow, because the barbarians were proud of themselves, photographed themselves, called their parents to boast, and especially despicable because they ecstatically saw themselves as part of a religious apocalypse. Coining a new word for this kind of murder, Dr. Kaplan terms it Hamasticide (apocalyptic barbarism, a word also used by former Italian MP Fiamma Nierenstein) .
The Jewish People must never forget the monsters of October 7, 2023, no matter what other hostilities we face. The way this book is organized ensures that we remember while also reminding us that “there is no one like Your nation Israel.”