For Jewish Israelis, the High Holidays are now intimately connected to the events of Oct. 7, 2023. It was on Simchat Torah two years ago that thousands of Hamas gunmen invaded Israel and murdered some 1,200 people, taking 250 hostage and sparking the war that continues today, with 48 hostages still being held in Gaza, alive and dead.
The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Israel invited both clergy and lay people to write new prayers in both English and Hebrew that reflect the new reality after Oct. 7, which are put together in a collection titled “Rejoice with Trembling.”
Several of those involved say that Oct. 7 has led to a new search for meaning in Israeli society.
“Rosh Hashanah has themes of life and death; it puts us in the mindset of thinking of our mortality,” Rabbi Chaya Rowen Baker, Schechter’s dean, told JNS. “It makes us ask, “What do we want to accomplish in this life? In the wake of Oct. 7, the meaning of life is more highly emphasized. We want to emerge strengthened and with a better sense of purpose.”
Here is part of her reflection. “On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate the creation of humanity,” she writes.
However, according to this count, the second day marks the beginning of life in expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Why would we celebrate the day on which (pro)creation became bound with pain, and life became synonymous with sweat and toil? The celebration of both days of Rosh Hashanah—both the elevation of Creation and the reality of life outside the Garden of Eden—emphasizes the sanctity of our ability to create in pain, to sow in tears, and to believe in goodness and life despite everything.”
The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary trains Israeli rabbis in Masorti (Conservative) Judaism and hosts students who come for a year from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires.
Most students take four or five years to finish their semicha (rabbinic ordination) and also get an MA degree from the Schecter Institute of Jewish Studies, which currently has 330 students.
Rowen said there are “about 100” Masorti/Conservative congregations in Israel. Unlike their Orthodox counterparts, the synagogues are egalitarian, there is no mechitzah (barrier) between men and women during prayer and many of the congregations are led by female rabbis.
Moreshet Avraham
One of the most prominent Masorti synagogues in Israel is Moreshet Avraham in Jerusalem, led by a husband-wife team of Rabbi David Goodman and Rabbi Amirit Rosen, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
In her reflection, called “Hear our voice, Hashem, our God,” Rosen writes as follows: “What does it mean, ‘God hears,’ in the face of terror and horrors? When no one comes to the rescue? This is my understanding of her words: You think you are so powerful, but there are forces greater than you. Goodness, compassion and justice exist even if they do not manifest in a given moment.”
She also writes, “A state of war does not cancel the existence of peace. Discrimination does not erase equality; injustice does not annihilate justice. On Rosh Hashanah, we crown God, the king of justice, accountability and compassion, in a reality that is far from these values in which we believe.”
She adds, “The sound of the shofar carries from one end of the world to the other, as do the voices of despair and love, even when they are not heard; the voice of the ram, of Isaac, of Ishmael; the voices of Sarah and of Hagar; the voices of the hostages, of the bereaved families, of those suffering from hunger, of the wounded in body and soul. These voices ring throughout the world and we pray they will resonate with human beings everywhere. He who answered Abraham on Mount Moriah, answer us; O Merciful One, who answers the broken-hearted—answer us.”
In an interview with JNS, Rosen (whose father is Rabbi David Rosen, a former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and special advisor to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi) said that Oct. 7 has sparked a lot of internal questioning within Israeli society.
“There is a lot of despair in Israeli society,” she told JNS. “There are a lot of questions about what the future holds, and questions about where our leadership are taking us. The fact that the hostages are not back leaves all our hearts somehow in bondage.”
She said that many Jewish Israelis are entering Rosh Hashanah with “a grave heart” and many of her congregants have children or grandchildren in the army or the reserves. She said that it is a time for communities to come together and support each other.
Rosh Hashanah, she stressed, kicks off the 10 days of repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur.
“The idea of teshuva (repentance) holds in it a great faith in humanity,” she said. “It means that things can change and we can make a difference. We believe and pray that we can be God’s messenger and that we can be better versions of ourselves.”
