Every Day Since: Bring My Family Home
The following article contains discussions of traumatic events, including the October 7th attacks, which may be difficult for some readers.
On October 7, 2023, my cousins Ofer, Sahar, and Erez Calderon were kidnapped and taken hostage in Gaza. For 52 excruciating days, they endured unimaginable conditions — deprived of adequate food, water, and even oxygen — before Erez and Sahar were finally returned to Israel as part of a hostage exchange deal with Hamas. Ofer Calderon, the father of Erez and Sahar, remains in captivity. Almost a year into his abduction, we’ve received few details regarding his mental or physical condition or even confirmation of whether he is still alive.
While I was born in Israel and much of my family still lives there, I moved to the United States at a young age. I’m now a senior in college, studying business management with a minor in film studies. I always knew I wanted to do something out of the ordinary, but I could never have imagined how much my life would change after October 7.
That morning, I woke up thinking that it would be like any other Saturday, and I was preparing for a football tailgate when my friends and I started hearing that something bad was happening in Israel. At the time, no one really knew what was happening, and even my friends and family in Israel didn’t understand the full extent of the attack. Since my grandparents live just outside the Gaza Envelope, the border area surrounding Gaza, I spent most of the day texting my parents, checking to make sure my grandparents were okay. As the news poured in, it became clear just how horrific the situation was.
The only thing that made sense in that moment was to lean on my Israel Fellow and my Jewish community on campus, which would become increasingly more important to me in the coming days. I became involved with Hillel, hosting events for students to connect and process the trauma of what had happened with each other. We focused on what we could control: spreading the word about the brutal events of October 7, and keeping attention on the hostages. As the weeks passed, I immersed myself in advocating for the hostages and their families, trying to find a balance between midterms, activism, and being a college student.
I witnessed the situation on campus for Jewish and Israeli students deteriorating. My college administrators have been supportive, but it’s still scary to hold an Israeli flag or wear a Magen David in public. I often ask myself when it will be safe and normal to be Jewish on campus again. And at the same time, how do we ensure that what happened on October 7 doesn’t get erased from the world’s memory?
More than anything, the hostages and their families deserve the world’s attention, especially as we mark a year of their captivity. Words cannot fully convey the heartbreak I’ve felt over the last 12 months. Yet my suffering pales in comparison to the horrors experienced by so many others that day. My cousins are back, but as they’ve said, they haven’t really been released. Not as long as their dad is still there.
Ron Tsur (Class of 2025) is a student at the University of Georgia, and a member of ºÚÁÏ´«ËÍÃÅ’s Content Creators Forum .
Every Day Since is a series of original stories about the impact of October 7 on Jewish students and professionals on campus. Learn more about Eyal, a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow who came to the United States to connect with Jewish college students, and about Abi Schcolnik, an international student and co-chair of ºÚÁÏ´«ËÍÃÅ’s student cabinet, who is working to combat antisemitism on campus following October 7.