The freshmen on Oct. 7, 2023, who became Jewish leaders in the terror attacks’ aftermath...

Erica Ho, a Harvard freshman with a Chinese father and Jewish mother, marked her bat mitzvah under a Chabad tent on campus seven months after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. The article profiles several students who stepped into Jewish leadership roles amid campus tensions following the attacks.

Ho grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, distant from synagogues, and the events prompted her and peers to strengthen Jewish communal activity at universities including Harvard.