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Sarah Tuttle-Singer
A Mermaid in Jerusalem

Am Yisrael Chai – love triumphs over hate

This may be one of the most iconic images of Jewish history I’ve ever seem — akin to the stunning photo of the paratroopers by the Kotel in 1967:

From the window of the helicopter Liri Albag pressed her hands together to form a heart—a gesture of love and resilience in the face of the incomprehensible.

It was a moment that transcended words, a powerful declaration that even amid unimaginable suffering, our spirit WILL rise above despair.

It is a testament to the enduring truth that while terror seeks to destroy, humanity has the capacity to rebuild, to love, and to choose life.

The terrorists who invaded the Nova Festival and countless other homes and communities on October 7 did so with a grotesque reverence for death and destruction.

Pure hate.

Their violence was not merely a tactic—it was a celebration of annihilation, a worship of fear and cruelty. They glorified carnage, planting seeds of hatred and despair, as though destruction itself could stand as a monument to their cause.

And yet, Liri’s heart symbol reminds us that we do not build monuments to destruction.

We do not exalt death.

Even in the shadow of the horrors inflicted upon us, we turn toward the light. This is the essence of choosing life—the core of what it means to be Jewish and to be human. In the face of those who seek to glorify death, we continue to idealize and exalt life, even when it feels broken. We find the shards, we hold them close, and we begin to repair.

Liri’s gesture was not just a symbol of her own survival. It was a message for all of us: that love persists. That love is still worth choosing, even when hatred seeks to claim victory. That our collective response to such horrors is not to retreat into despair but to reaffirm our humanity with acts of kindness, moments of hope, and unwavering belief in life’s sanctity. Where they plant fear, we sow resilience. Where they destroy, we rebuild. And where they worship death, we embrace life and also love—fully, fiercely, and forever.

And this will sustain us as we wait for News on the others still in darkness.

Am Yisrael Chai.

About the Author
Sarah Tuttle-Singer is the author of Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered and the New Media Editor at Times of Israel. She was raised in Venice Beach, California on Yiddish lullabies and Civil Rights anthems, and she now lives in Jerusalem with her 3 kids where she climbs roofs, explores cisterns, opens secret doors, talks to strangers, and writes stories about people — especially taxi drivers. Sarah also speaks before audiences left, right, and center through the Jewish Speakers Bureau, asking them to wrestle with important questions while celebrating their willingness to do so. She loves whisky and tacos and chocolate chip cookies and old maps and foreign coins and discovering new ideas from different perspectives. Sarah is a work in progress.