Daniel Katzenstein, a longtime United Hatzalah volunteer, gave the testimony. In it, Daniel reflects not only on his personal experience on October 7, but also on the deeper meaning of that day within the continuum of Jewish history - and on how our collective strength and resilience came to life in those critical hours.
“.. I was there. I was there, shoulder to shoulder – religious, secular – it didn’t make a difference. We’re brothers. Brothers and sisters, arm in arm, doing stuff for the Jewish people at our hardest time. It was like, “Yeah! Yeah, we did that!”. I told my kids, “Don't forget this. You were here. You were here through me, you know.” It is awesome.
One thing I think we learned from October 7th is that the tide was turned by the little people. No – there were no little people. Every person did the little bit that they could. It was truly a Zechut. I mean, we don’t ask for this. This was not something... no one wanted it. But, you know… we shine. WE SHINE. You know? “How tough are you? You don't want to know how tough we are.”
I just saw someone had a video and picture collection of Jews with the number on their arms. And I'm like, oh my God – we're people that went through the most demeaning, destructive, evil – tattoos in Auschwitz. And like - “Yeah, that's right. We're back here raising kids and grandkids and moving on.” That's tough. That's a whole different level of tough.”
