Jewish Educators Manitoba (JEM) hosted a screening of Bearing Witness: A Journey of the Heart and Mind, a powerful and important documentary by award-winning Westwood Collegiate educator Kelly Hiebert, co-created with Gray Academy educator Naama Samphir. The event took place at the Asper Jewish Community Campus on March 18, 2025. JEM members Jordana Etkin and Diandra Etkin introduced the screening and conducted a Q&A with Hiebert.
The screening drew a large and receptive audience, including Holocaust historian Dr. Jody Perrun, counter-extremism expert Dr. Kawser Ahmed, administrators from Westwood Collegiate and Seven Oaks School Division, Hiebert’s current and former students, as well as many parents from the Westwood community.
The documentary is the outcome of Hiebert and Samphir’s participation in Binat HaLev (“Journey of the Heart and Mind”), the first-ever Canadian educator program in Israel. The five-day experience, funded by Jewish Federations, was designed to provide firsthand exposure to the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad massacre. Its mission was to enable educators to bear witness and return with fact-based knowledge to share in their classrooms.
The 42-minute film features harrowing testimonies from survivors and families of victims and hostages, interwoven with images of the devastated sites of the attack, including Kibbutz Be’eri, the Nova Festival site, and Sderot. It also documents the resilience of Israelis through powerful memorials in Tel Aviv and at the Nova Festival site.
Hiebert, known for his expertise in Holocaust education and his role in developing Manitoba’s Holocaust Resource Guide, was one of 26 educators selected for the program. Among them, he was one of only three non-Jews. His vast knowledge of Holocaust history and antisemitism, coupled with his 20-year career in genocide education, made him a natural choice for this experience.
“I have led many Holocaust memory tours but what I saw here reminded me of Auschwitz. This was the Auschwitz of October 7.”
The program’s objective aligns with Hiebert’s lifelong mission—to combat antisemitism in Canadian schools. Since October 7, antisemitism has surged at an alarming rate, with rising incidents of Holocaust distortion, denial, and a growing trend of dismissing or denying the horrors of the Hamas massacre. Hiebert sees his documentary as a vital tool in ensuring that the atrocities of October 7 are neither ignored nor forgotten.
Documenting the October 7 Massacre
Bearing Witness follows Hiebert and Samphir’s journey to three major sites of the massacre, where 1,182 innocent Israelis were brutally slaughtered, over 4,000 injured, and 251 abducted by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. The film provides firsthand accounts of the tragedy and aims to preserve the memory of these events in the face of rising antisemitism in schools and beyond.
The urgency of this effort became even more apparent when the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) canceled Hiebert’s scheduled session, Bearing Witness to October 7 and How to Confront Antisemitism in Our Schools, at the Manitoba Social Sciences Teachers Association conference. Hiebert had planned to address the human toll of October 7 and its link to the rise of antisemitism worldwide, particularly in Canada. However, MTS cited security concerns after threats from the left-wing group Liberation Manitoba.
The documentary opens with a chilling NBC News report from shortly after the attack, featuring footage captured by Hamas terrorists on their GoPro cameras. Though much of this raw footage was withheld from the public due to its extreme brutality, a 47-minute compilation by Mark Halawa for the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) is now available online, documenting the full extent of the massacre.
Unlike this raw footage, Bearing Witness focuses on the aftermath, allowing viewers to process the horror without being entirely overwhelmed by despair. Amid the darkness of October 7, the film also highlights stories of resilience and heroism—of those who survived, those who fought back, and those who risked their lives to save others.
Heart-Wrenching Testimonies
The film presents deeply personal stories, including that of Michal Weiss Pinyan, who was trapped in a safe room with her children while her parents and grandparents were burned alive by Hamas terrorists. Her mother’s final words—“They are burning us… Please tell everyone we loved them”—are among the most haunting moments in the documentary.
Another heartbreaking testimony comes from Yaron Vital, a Canadian-Israeli father whose daughter, Adi, was killed in a booby-trapped safe room. Hamas terrorists left 50 grenades in the room, ensuring that anyone attempting to rescue her would also be killed. Adi’s neighbor, Avital, managed to survive by hiding with Adi’s two children, four-year-old Negev and four-month-old Eshel, who were later abducted into Gaza. The terrorists released them in a propaganda video meant to portray Hamas as “compassionate.”
The documentary also honors the heroism of Colonel Leon Bar (Res.), who risked his life rescuing victims on October 7. Returning to the Nova Festival site the next day, he was ambushed and killed by a terrorist while trying to help others. At his shiva, a woman recounted how Bar had saved her, while another survivor recognized him as the man who had promised to return and fix her closet when “this was all over.”
A Call to Remember and Resist
Throughout the film, scenes of destruction are juxtaposed with moments of hope. Participants of Binat HaLev are shown engaging with Israeli educators and students, visiting Bedouin communities, and bearing witness at powerful memorials, including Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. The Nova Festival site, where 370 festivalgoers were murdered in a single day, struck Hiebert deeply, evoking comparisons to Holocaust memorial sites.
“I have led many Holocaust memory tours,” Hiebert reflects in the film. “But what I saw here reminded me of Auschwitz. This was the Auschwitz of October 7.”
The documentary ends with footage from Hostages Square, where artistic installations—a Shabbat table, a Wishing Tree, and a sculpture of yellow ribbons—serve as symbols of remembrance and resilience. A digital screen counts the days, hours, and minutes since the hostages were taken. The final message is clear: Memory must be preserved, and silence is not an option.
The film’s closing soundtrack, featuring Kosha Dillz’s Bring the Family Home, Eden Golan’s October Rain, and Eyal Golan’s Am Israel Chai, serves as a final tribute to the victims and a call to resist the darkness of October 7 with the enduring light of truth and remembrance.
As the documentary concludes, the words of Martin Luther King Jr. echo powerfully:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Watch the Documentary
To view Bearing Witness: A Journey of the Heart and Mind, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq56SbXqbjM
For information on Kelly Hiebert’s nonprofit Holocaust Memorial Sites Study Tour for Educators and the upcoming 2026 tour, see:
https://www.holocauststudy.org/tour-info