Over 100 people turned out at the Jewish Community Alliance in Portland Monday night to mark one year since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people.
The event featured a keynote address from Keren Borovsky Oren, an Israeli woman whose kibbutz came under attack on October 7.
Speaking via videolink from Israel, Oren recalled sheltering in a saferoom with her children, barricading the door with a bed.
"Let's put the bed by the door, and the mattress on the door, so it will absorb bullets if terrorists will come into our home," she remembered saying to her kids.
Oren said seven community members were killed that day. But she credited her husband, head of a small security team, with preventing further loss.
Alex Lapa, of Portland, was in attendance at the JCA. He said he wanted to be around others who understand the impact that the attacks have had on the Jewish community.
"I don't have a lot of Jewish friends here," Lapa said. "So it was important to be here with people who understand."
The event in Portland included remarks from rabbis across the state, some of whom drew attention to the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Local and state elected leaders, including house speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, were also present.
The commemoration came as the conflict in the Middle East shows no sign of abating. Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people, and fighting has recently expanded to a second front in Lebanon as Israel targets the militant group Hezbollah.
