Nova Survivor Uses Music As A Way To Cope With Post-Trauma

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Yair Kandil (29), an electrical and electronics engineering student, managed to escape and survive the Nova music festival massacre in Re’im, and the very next day, he was called up for reserve duty. When he later arrived at the Resilience Center at Azrieli College of Engineering in Jerusalem, he joined a musical ensemble, using singing as a way to cope with his post-trauma, according to a Yisrael Hayom report.

The events of October 7 left many students physically and emotionally scarred, including Yair, who at the time was a second-year engineering student.
“In a single moment, everything turned upside down,” he recalled of the horrors at Re’im. “My friend lost his car keys. I went back to help him find them, and that saved both his life and mine. Seconds later, the shooting began. We ran through the fields; I saw people falling, blood, screams. It was a miracle from heaven that I made it out alive.”

The next day, Yair was drafted for reserve service, leaving him no time to process what he had endured. But he knew his soul needed healing. After completing his service, he turned to the Azrieli College Resilience Center, established to support students and staff affected by the attacks, which offered academic aid and emotional-psychological assistance.

As part of the center’s activities, a musical group was formed, made up of talented students, both singers and instrumentalists, including reservists, partners of soldiers, and survivors of October 7. “They held auditions, and I decided to try out,” Yair shared. “When I sang for the first time, no one knew my story — that I was a Nova survivor. For the audition, I chose to sing ‘Enatzeil’ (‘I Will Be Saved’) by Mosh Ben Ari.”

Soon, Yair found himself performing on stage before large audiences at Memorial Day ceremonies, Holocaust Remembrance events, and college award ceremonies.
“For me, it was the first time standing on a stage in front of so many people. It was healing for the soul, it really helped me deal with the trauma of the festival. It helped me face my fears and connect emotionally with the audience. I sang ‘Tirkedi’ by Osher Cohen, a song that accompanied me throughout my reserve service. It helped me process the trauma, not repress it, but tell our story. It’s healing.”

Today, Yair is a fourth-year student, looking ahead with hope. At a Nova survivors’ event, he met Osher, also a survivor, who became his partner. “Out of all that darkness, something good grew,” he said. “I want to work for a leading chip company or in the defense industry, but also to keep singing, creating, building, and healing.”

According to Eyal Koren, the college’s Dean of Students: “The idea was to connect people through emotion, to restore meaning and community to campus life. Music became a therapeutic tool, allowing not only singing but breathing again.”

The establishment of the center was made possible through cooperation between the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation, the Azrieli Foundation, the National Union of Israeli Students, the Jewish Federations of North America, and the Gross Family Foundation, and is managed by the Israeli Trauma Coalition.

“The center operates from the understanding that resilience is not only a psychological concept,” Koren concluded, “but a way of life.”