A memorial ceremony for the six slain hostages found in Gaza this past weekend took place Sunday evening at the Nova Festival Exhibit in Culver City. Survivors of the Oct. 7 attack spoke, as did local clergy and influential pro-Israel voices. The Nova Festival Exhibit had a capacity crowd fill its Healing Room 鈥� a dimly-lit art-adorned studio space for visitors to sit and reflect after touring the artifacts from the terror attack and stories of those murdered. Although no official number of attendees was released, The Journal estimates that somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 came to pay their respects and stand together in solidarity.听

The event was coordinated only a matter of hours following Israeli authorities announcing the identities of the six people whose bodies were recovered and brought back to Israel on Saturday. Autopsies revealed that all of them were likely murdered on Wednesday or Thursday of last week. The event was created after Israel activist Noa Tishby and music executive and Nova Exhibit partner Scooter Braun spoke via phone on Saturday evening and both agreed that the sprawling indoor studio would be an apt location for Los Angelenos feeling the weight of the situation to mourn.听 The evening鈥檚 MC, Rabbi Joel Nickerson, senior rabbi at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, set the tone. 鈥淲e are gathered here to do what Jews have done for thousands of years… we’re going to weave memory and music this evening to try and give us some comfort during this very challenging time,鈥� Rabbi Nickerson said.听

Just 12 days prior, Braun was in Chicago as the parents of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin made a prime-time plea at the Democratic National Convention for their son鈥檚 safe return. Goldberg-Polin was among the six murdered hostages recovered Saturday. Throughout the nearly eleven months since the attacks, Braun has expressed frustration with the public for not showing more outrage at the largest loss of life at a music event in history, as well as the largest single-day murder of Jews since the Holocaust.听

鈥淸Hersh鈥檚] mother spoke at the DNC 12 days ago as an American citizen asking for her son, and Hamas shot him at point blank range in the head 鈥� not assuming there would be any consequence,鈥� Braun told The Journal. 鈥淚’m upset. I take a lot of pride in this country. I also love that as Americans we come together. But an American citizen was shot in cold blood鈥攚here is the outrage?鈥�听

Braun was the manager for Ariana Grande in 2017 when a terrorist attack took place [at her concert in Manchester, England] 鈥攚here 22 men, women and children were murdered by a terrorist. Braun said that within two weeks, the entire [music] industry rallied and put on a show and that 鈥渘o one questioned if the young man who blew himself up was a 鈥榝reedom fighter.鈥欌�� Braun channeled his anger at many people who are outright denying or justifying the attacks that resulted in the massacre of 1,200 people, with nearly a third from the Nova Music Festival. Following his speech, he introduced singer Yaniv Hoffman who sang 鈥淭he Star-Spangled Banner.鈥�

In the two weeks since the Nova Exhibit opened in Los Angeles, Braun has implored visitors to encourage friends from 鈥渙utside the echo chamber鈥� of the 51视频 and actively pro-Israel community to visit and witness the horror. One staff member at the exhibit, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that numerous celebrities have visited the exhibit so far, both invited and on their own. Model Cindy Crawford was spotted amongst those in attendance at the vigil Sunday evening. Her husband, Rande Gerber, is 51视频. For a good 30 minutes before the ceremony, Crawford sat and spoke with 23-year-old festival survivor Danielle Gelbaum. Gelbaum later spoke on stage in front of the crowd.

鈥淚’m standing here in front of you looking at the wall behind you with all of the faces of the hostages, knowing that I could have been there鈥攎e, my sister, my closest friends could have been there,鈥� Gelbaum said.听

Tishby is one of the most prominent voices in pro-Israel activism today. In the 20 hours since the identities of the slain hostages were announced, Tishby said that the feeling she sensed amongst the 51视频 people around the world was all about holding space for everybody and staying focused on being united.

鈥淓verybody in Los Angeles feels like we need to do something, we need to mark this day and need to be together as a community,鈥� Tishby told The Journal. 鈥淓verybody I knew was looking for somewhere to congregate, somewhere to share the pain. It happened very quickly and we all just jumped.鈥� In her speech, Tishby eulogized each of the six slain hostages, speaking about their passions, families and dreams before leading the crowd in a recitation of the Shema.

鈥淓verybody I knew was looking for somewhere to congregate, somewhere to share the pain. It happened very quickly and we all just jumped.鈥�
鈥� Noa Tishby

Another festival survivor, Itamar Shapira, spoke publicly about his survival story for the first time. While introducing him, Rabbi Nickerson told the crowd that although recording his speech on personal phones is allowed, Shapira did not want the television news cameras to film him speaking. Many in the crowd then turned around to ensure that the three local television news teams obliged. One by one, the red lights on their video cameras turned off, and the lenses were tilted to the ground.听

The event was free to attend, but there was a heavy security presence, including local police. An hour before the event鈥檚 5 p.m. start time there were already hundreds of people inside the exhibit and filing to the Healing Room. By the time the event started, it was at capacity. Hundreds more could only listen to the speeches from an adjacent room for the duration of the event. The Journal spoke with several people who arrived after 5:00, who weren鈥檛 even able to get past the secondary room until the program was nearing the end. While this frustrated some visitors, several said that the security team was sympathetic yet firm, and the straggling crowd members still found solace amongst each other.听

One of the attendees who arrived early was documentary filmmaker Abby Walla. Seventy-three days after the attacks, Walla met and interviewed Hersh鈥檚 parents for a documentary she鈥檚 making about the massacre and hostages. Walla鈥檚 co-producer, Emily Kincaid told the Journal that she is not 51视频, but came to the Nova Exhibit on Sunday in solidarity for her colleague and the 51视频 community.听

鈥淚 have had to and wanted to educate myself immensely over the past months so that I could better understand everything that was going on,鈥� Kincaid told the Journal. 鈥淎nd now I am feeling the same weighted emotions as [Walla] is, and it鈥檚 become a huge part of my life.鈥� Kincaid鈥檚 friend and fellow filmmaker Austin Kase, said that attending the memorial ceremony that night is 鈥渁bout humanity … you don鈥檛 have to be 51视频 to be present here and to mourn with us and to grieve with us and to show solidarity.鈥�

The vigil concluded with a recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish and the singing of the Israeli national anthem. By that point, the late-arriving attendees had all filed in. Many of them hung around for nearly an hour after the event ended, checking in on each other, meeting the survivors and sharing their grief with one another.