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October 7th: Searching for the Humanitarian Middle
In this emotional missive from the diaspora, Globe and Mail columnist Marsha Lederman gathers her columns searching for the humanitarian middle of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Since 2023, the best-selling and award-winning author and journalist has been reflecting, with deep empathy, on the horrific October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens, rising anti-Semitism, and the brutal violence against civilians in Gaza in her column for the Globe and Mail.
As one of the leading Canadian voices on Jewish identity, Lederman’s impassioned work in the Globe has been a lifeline for readers since October 7th, 2023. The work collected in this book captures the pain of so Marsha’s prose has a way of cutting through the noise and capturing the humanity behind the headlines. She makes room for the reader to be conflicted, grieving, angry and unsure, and is with them through that process as she, like all of us, grapples with a new reality.
As someone who is firmly against Netanyahu and firmly in favour of Palestinian rights, believes in a two-state solution, and is a daughter of Holocaust survivors terrified by the rise in anti-Semitism, Marsha’s writing has captured the full complexity of the experience of reconciling an abhorrence of the violence against Israelis and Palestinians with the trauma and fear of rising prejudice around the world.
These columns are a contemporaneous look at the year that followed Oct 7th, 2023, reminding us of the pain and confusion. This collection is a crucial archive capturing, in real time, a period of deep division with care, empathy, and grief.
Since 2023, the best-selling and award-winning author and journalist has been reflecting, with deep empathy, on the horrific October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens, rising anti-Semitism, and the brutal violence against civilians in Gaza in her column for the Globe and Mail.
As one of the leading Canadian voices on Jewish identity, Lederman’s impassioned work in the Globe has been a lifeline for readers since October 7th, 2023. The work collected in this book captures the pain of so Marsha’s prose has a way of cutting through the noise and capturing the humanity behind the headlines. She makes room for the reader to be conflicted, grieving, angry and unsure, and is with them through that process as she, like all of us, grapples with a new reality.
As someone who is firmly against Netanyahu and firmly in favour of Palestinian rights, believes in a two-state solution, and is a daughter of Holocaust survivors terrified by the rise in anti-Semitism, Marsha’s writing has captured the full complexity of the experience of reconciling an abhorrence of the violence against Israelis and Palestinians with the trauma and fear of rising prejudice around the world.
These columns are a contemporaneous look at the year that followed Oct 7th, 2023, reminding us of the pain and confusion. This collection is a crucial archive capturing, in real time, a period of deep division with care, empathy, and grief.
- GenresNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
Published August 19, 2025
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67 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 31, 2025
A good opinion writer has an uncanny ability to take current events and make them accessible and nail down with words what you may have been thinking, but didn’t know how to articulate.
Marsha Lederman is a superb opinion writer. Her new collection of carefully curated columns written for the Globe and Mail before, concurrent and after the horrors of October 7 and the dark turn taken by Canadian society against its Jews. The book is a hard read. Not only for the obvious reasons. But what’s really difficult is the reminder of how shocked I was as a Canadian Jew that rather than find support and solace from the many organizations causes and friends I had aligned myself with as a progressive liberal Canadian, these same folks had turned against us. Two years later, the only thing that still shocks me is my capacity to still be shocked.
Lederman articulates much of what we have lost. Friendships. Safety. Idealism. The integrity of the Canadian arts and cultural scene. As Lederman writes, “Our pain is barely acknowledged—or worse.” She reflects that “If such things were said about any other community, they would never be tolerated.”
But in searching for the humanitarian middle, Lederman’s voice reminds us
that the only thing many of us can do is “use [our words]: to write, to talk to one another. And to express hope for peace, in spite of it all.”
Marsha Lederman is a superb opinion writer. Her new collection of carefully curated columns written for the Globe and Mail before, concurrent and after the horrors of October 7 and the dark turn taken by Canadian society against its Jews. The book is a hard read. Not only for the obvious reasons. But what’s really difficult is the reminder of how shocked I was as a Canadian Jew that rather than find support and solace from the many organizations causes and friends I had aligned myself with as a progressive liberal Canadian, these same folks had turned against us. Two years later, the only thing that still shocks me is my capacity to still be shocked.
Lederman articulates much of what we have lost. Friendships. Safety. Idealism. The integrity of the Canadian arts and cultural scene. As Lederman writes, “Our pain is barely acknowledged—or worse.” She reflects that “If such things were said about any other community, they would never be tolerated.”
But in searching for the humanitarian middle, Lederman’s voice reminds us
that the only thing many of us can do is “use [our words]: to write, to talk to one another. And to express hope for peace, in spite of it all.”
August 19, 2025
As a longtime fan of Marsha's articles in the Globe, it's not surprising that this book provides a balanced, sensitive and smart approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Highly recommend.
July 4, 2025
Why don’t we start from the year 1948 hmm??!!!
August 22, 2025
Kiss The Red Stairs is a book that has stayed with me since I read it. I came across this new book on the day it was published, and just finished listening to the audiobook. I appreciate the historical context, as well as the reminder of events as they have played out in recent years. There is a lot to absorb, I will take it all in, and I’m certain I will come back to listen to it again, in addition to recommending it.
October 14, 2025
So good, appreciated the Canadian Jewish perspective
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November 9, 2025(I do not rate memoirs.)
This book is a challenging read which made it extra frustrating that the ALC I received from Netgalley had significant formatting issues. At two different points the audio file skipped several chapters. I thought that it simply skipped those chapters until the audiobook continued after the last chapter. Somehow those earlier skipped chapters were placed at the end. These format issues did affect my experience with the book since it affected the continuity. Setting that aside, I did appreciate Lederman's vulnerability in these collected essays which challenged me to think about her presented perspectives.
This book is a challenging read which made it extra frustrating that the ALC I received from Netgalley had significant formatting issues. At two different points the audio file skipped several chapters. I thought that it simply skipped those chapters until the audiobook continued after the last chapter. Somehow those earlier skipped chapters were placed at the end. These format issues did affect my experience with the book since it affected the continuity. Setting that aside, I did appreciate Lederman's vulnerability in these collected essays which challenged me to think about her presented perspectives.
September 14, 2025
Lederman and I fundamentally disagree on the connotation of Zionism, but we agree on much more than I would have expected. She's a great reader of her own work and I appreciate that Canada, at least, has a nuanced voice on this issue in one of their major papers. It was hard to go back through just how long the assault on Gaza has been ongoing, and obviously Lederman's recounting ends before the current offensive on Gaza City, but it's important to see how everything has progressed and not gotten better.
Audio ARC provided by NetGalley.
Audio ARC provided by NetGalley.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews