Eighty years after World War II, October 7 has forced Jews to confront fears many thought belonged to the history books.
The Hamas massacre, the largest killing of Jews since the Holocaust, has “taken us back to the same kind of insecurities we had in the 1940s,” says journalist-turned-author Aaron Heller on a recent episode of the ILTV Podcast.
In his new book, Zaidy’s Band, Heller uncovers the hidden story of his grandfather, a Canadian Jewish World War II navigator who stayed silent about the war for decades. What began as a personal quest became an 11-year journey into a largely overlooked chapter of Jewish history: the 1.5 million Jews who fought in the Allied armies, 250,000 of whom fell in battle.
“For most of us, World War II means the Holocaust,” Heller explains. “But there’s another story of Jewish soldiers who helped change the world, and gave us the reality we live in today.”
As anti-semitism rises again and Israel faces an existential threat, Heller says he looks back to those stories for strength: “While this might be unprecedented in our lifetime, it’s not unprecedented in Jewish history, and we are standing on the shoulders of giants who have been through this and worse, and persevered.”
Heller shares his grandfather’s journey, the silence and trauma of a generation, and the enduring lessons in resilience for Jews today.
Watch the full episode: