American Jews are worried about current events, but are resilient and are unified as the High Holidays approach, rabbis told JNS.
Rabbi Ed Feinstein, of the Conservative synagogue Valley Beth Shalom in Los Angeles, told JNS that the community is “unsettled” and worried about Israel’s “safety, its isolation in the world, about the soldiers sent into the warrens of Gaza, about the hostages.”
“We’re worried about Israel’s soul,” he said. “We’re worried about how this crisis will warp Israeli life and culture for the next generation.” American Jews are also concerned about rising antisemitism stateside and overseas, he said.
“We’re worried about our kids, who must now pass armed guards and metal detectors to get into shul,” he said. “We’re worried about America, about the future of our democracy.”
Rabbi Nicole Guzik, of Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles, told JNS that “congregants have conveyed feeling a sense of hopelessness and chaos” due to “personal angst within families, fear of the unknown, heartache regarding antisemitism and Israel’s future.”
“The list goes on and on,” she said.
Rabbi Daniel Dorsch, senior rabbi of the Conservative synagogue Congregation Etz Chaim near Atlanta, told JNS that his community has “mixed emotions.”
“We feel the pressure of a world moving rapidly forward technologically, while in other ways, particularly with regard to Israel, we experience a world that seems to remain hopelessly at a standstill,” he said.
Rabbi Jason Nevarez, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in San Diego, told JNS that “there is a heaviness in the air” amid rising Jew-hatred. There is “also a deep desire for connection,” he said.
‘People are yearning to be together’
Rabbis told JNS that American Jews are coming together and deepening their connections to their faith.
“The recent rise in hostility has brought Jews out of the woodwork and awakened their deeply rooted, Jewish identities and souls,” Rabbi Raleigh Resnick, of the Chabad of the Tri Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area, told JNS.
“People who were not actively engaged in Jewish life have suddenly begun to light candles on Friday nights and put on tefillin,” he said. “I talk to my colleagues at Chabad centers around the world, and it’s truly an incredible phenomenon to behold.”
Nevarez, the San Diego rabbi, has been seeing “a noticeable increase in community involvement.”
“People are yearning to be together—in prayer, in study and in presence,” he told JNS. “The synagogue has become a central place for both comfort and strength.”
Rabbi Diana Fersko, senior rabbi of the Village Temple, a Reform congregation in downtown Manhattan, told JNS that in her 15 years in the rabbinate, she has never seen stronger synagogue attendance.
“People have joined who have never been a part of the synagogue,” she said. “Families are enrolling their children earlier in religious schools. Jews are seeking out community, spirituality and comfort.”
Rabbi Brian Strauss, senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Yeshurun, a Conservative synagogue in Houston, told JNS that his community has shown “courage, defiance and Jewish boldness.”
“People aren’t retreating. They’re showing up in greater numbers than ever,” Strauss said. “For many, being present in synagogue has become their way of pushing back against antisemitism, of saying, ‘We’re still here, proud and unafraid.’”
Dorsch, who leads the synagogue near Atlanta, said that he has spoken to several families that are new to the congregation and hadn’t considered joining a synagogue until after Oct. 7.
They are seeking synagogues to “help their children develop a sense of Jewish pride and resilience against a rising climate of antisemitism,” he said. Attendance for Shabbat morning services and morning minyans is “way up,” although there’s been “a dip” in attendance for evening services, he told JNS.
But people have “volunteered in droves” when synagogue leaders asked for volunteers to attend evening minyans once a month, Dorsch said. “People seem to be looking for any small way to feel connected and to help.”
Rabbi Michael Siegel, senior rabbi at Anshe Emet Synagogue, a Conservative congregation in Chicago, told JNS that he has been impressed with his community’s spirit “despite the challenging times we are living in.”
“The number of people who have shown interest in joining our community for the holidays has been truly remarkable,” he said. “All of our services and youth programs are at full capacity.”
“Jews are looking for places where they can gather comfortably as part of a larger Jewish community,” where “we can comfortably speak about Israel in thoughtful, loving and fully open ways, and share our hopes and dreams as a new year begins,” he said.
Feinstein, of Los Angeles, suspects attendance will be very strong, because “we’ve experienced a surge of enrollment in our schools and a growing number of people who want to attach themselves to the synagogue.”
‘Measure of hope’
Several rabbis told JNS that they will preach optimism on the High Holidays.
“We want to give our communities some measure of hope,” Feinstein said. “Hope is awfully hard to find these days, but Jews are forbidden to give up and surrender to hopelessness.”
“So, rabbis will be talking about the recovery of hope,” he said.
Strauss, the Houston rabbi, said that his understanding is that colleagues will preach about “standing up for Israel, for our Judaism and for our communities.”
“The message will be about not giving in to fear but instead doing whatever is necessary to ensure Israel’s continued fight against terrorism and the strengthening and revival of Jewish life,” he said.
Nevarez said that his San Diego synagogue’s High Holiday theme this year will be “our hope is not yet lost.” Hope is “the moral imperative to hold fast to resilience and possibility, even in dark times,” he said.
Nevarez has concerns about the younger generation, he told JNS.
“Many students in our community don’t have school off for the holidays, and some are more reluctant to miss class, because they don’t want to draw attention to their Jewish identity,” he said. “That reality weighs heavily, as we consider how to support them and strengthen their connection to Jewish life.”
Guzik, of Los Angeles, said “our sermons will focus on maintaining a sanctuary, a place where people of different personalities, parenting styles, political aisles and observance levels come together to share in the commonality of making this world a brighter place for all.”
“We will speak about how we can be builders of hope, even when everything feels shaky,” she said. “Most of all, we will emphasize the importance and responsibility of holding each other up when, beneath us, our legs give out.”
“This High Holy Day season, it will be the synagogue and community that serves as our anchor,” she said.
Israel and artificial intelligence will also be themes in High Holiday sermons, some rabbis told JNS.
“I believe that many rabbis will attempt to provide a thoughtful frame for the war in Gaza and offer approaches for the Jews living in the diaspora,” said Siegel, the Chicago rabbi. “I know of some rabbis who will be speaking about how we engage with one another in a world that is becoming more dominated by artificial intelligence.”
“Rosh Hashanah challenges us to take hold of what it means to be a human being,” said Dorsch, the Atlanta area rabbi. “The way we do that now is rapidly changing in an era where artificial intelligence drives our cars, can pass the bar exam and may perhaps even be writing rabbis’ High Holiday sermons.”
Rabbi Jacob Herber, senior rabbi at the Conservative synagogue Congregation Beth El in Norfolk, Va., told JNS that members of his community “feel anxious about the continuing rising tide of antisemitism in our country, the tension between wanting to bring the hostages home and the need to defeat, once and for all, Hamas and extinguish it as a threat.”
“I’d say these are the overarching themes most rabbis will address over the course of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” he said.
