Speaking to a packed house at the Beverly Hills Library, Danielle Sasi became emotional as she recalled the long hours she spent hiding in a concrete shelter in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and her gratitude for having survived.
“I’m grateful to be alive,” she said. “It took me two years to say that. I’m grateful for my family’s strength, and I’m grateful for the community and for your love and prayer and your unwavering support, and I’m so grateful for a place to come when I’m
feeling like I need to be with victims and other families.”
Sasi’s remarks were among those given at the dedication for Beverly Hills’ Oct. 7 Memorial, which was held at the library on Oct. 5. In addition to Sasi, speakers included Mayor Sharona Nazarian; artist Art Nesterenko, who created the memorial; Rabbi Pini Dunner of the Beverly Hills Synagogue; Israel Bachar, Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest and more.
The hourlong program included prayers for a ceasefire as well as a promise that Beverly Hills will never forget the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by terrorist organization Hamas.
To begin the ceremony, Dunner offered a recitation of Psalm 121 in Hebrew and English.
“It is a psalm that calls for God’s assistance and help, recognizes God’s greatness, and particularly in light of the fact that there are hostages who still remain dozens of feet below Gaza in tunnels,” he said. “We pray for their release [as well as] the other 28 whose remains need to be brought for proper burial in the land of their birth.”
Following Dunner’s remarks, Nazarian delivered a speech centered on hope, unity and a recognition that even as antisemitism is on the rise, Beverly Hills will continue to speak out against it.
“We stand together here in Beverly Hills for a moment that will live in history,” she said. “This is not just another ceremony. This is a sacred ground … we built this memorial to remember, to teach, to educate the next generation, to say with absolute clarity that never again is now.”
Bachar and Rabbi Noah Farkas, the Jewish Federation’s President and Chief Executive Officer, shared recollections about Oct. 7, 2023, and were followed by Sasi, who shared her story of survival.
An Israeli American from the San Fernando Valley, Sasi was visiting Israel at the time of the Oct. 7 attack. She was at the Nova Music Festival when the attack began and hid in a small bomb shelter for eight hours alongside approximately 40 other people. When terrorists entered the shelter, Sasi hid from their grenades and gunfire under bodies.
Before being rescued, Sasi was shot in the leg, and her father was murdered after throwing himself on a grenade to protect others.
“Even in the face of terror, we will not lose our hope,” Sasi said at the Oct. 5 event. “Hope is stronger than fear. Light is stronger than darkness, and life is stronger than death. We remember and we fight, we believe, and we will never stop choosing life.”
The Beverly Hills memorial, Forty Steps to the Sky, will include a sculpture resembling a spiral floating staircase. The sculpture will feature materials sourced from Israel and is intended to represent the connection between earth and sky and between body and soul. The steps represent the number of weeks in the year 2023 before Oct. 7.
Behind the sculpture, a memorial wall will hold the names of the victims.
Speaking at the ceremony, artist Nesterenko, who works as the creative director at Broskin Studio, explained the piece further.
“The entire structure will be made out of forged stainless steel, assembled from hundreds and hundreds of small pieces,” he said. “Each piece represents a family that lost a loved one, and together, they’re joined into one sculpture, forming a lasting bond. Forty Steps to the Sky is … a promise; a promise that the stories of Oct. 7 will never be forgotten, and together we will always write a story of light.”
