How Beth El Will Commemorate 10/7 This Year

By Rabbi Alex Freedman.

We are just a few weeks away from October 7th, 2024, which will mark a full year since that awful day. For me, it feels like both a short time and a long time ago. 

Of course we will mark that important day as a community. It’s important for us to do so as a larger Chicago Jewish community, as well as a Beth El synagogue community. And it is vital to commemorate both the English anniversary, Monday, October 7th, as well as the Hebrew anniversary, the holiday of Simchat Torah.

To that end, we will commemorate both occasions. On Monday, October 7th, we encourage our shul community to tune into a special JUF memorial event featuring Chicago Jewish community leaders, including Rabbi Schwab and Hazzan Sandler. Seats are no longer available, but we can all view the livestream. That same evening at Beth El following 7:30 pm Minyan, we will also have a brief ceremony for those of us in the building. 

The evening and morning of Simchat Torah will be the time that our Beth El community does something special in house. A few months ago, congregant Marissa Rosenberg approached me and asked if we could participate in an international commemoration called The Simchat Torah Project. The idea behind it is to use a new Torah cover for Simchat Torah dedicated to one of the victims of October 7th. In this way we will “dance with tears” and strike an impossible balance between honoring the sadness of October 7th while still enabling the joy of Simchat Torah, a deep Simcha that should not be diminished. We accepted. 

Just last week another congregant, Allison Nemirow, flew to Israel to participate in this project, along with participants from many parts of the world. She was there to bear witness to the devastation of October 7th, meet families of the victims, attend the Shiva for Hersh Goldberg-Polin Z”L, and receive our unique Torah cover. She did so and shared her poignant reflections in last week’s Shabbat sermon. She also printed out photos from her trip, which are kept in the binder on the table dedicated to the hostages. Allison displayed the beautiful Torah cover and shared that it is dedicated to Aner Shapira Z”L, best friend of Hersh, who fell in combat while defending innocents at the Nova Music Festival. Grenade after grenade was lobbed into the small shelter where he and others were hiding, and he heroically threw out seven before the next one exploded, tragically killing him. It is Aner’s name that will be on the Beth El Torah cover. 

On Simchat Torah, we will use this Torah cover for the first time, remember the destruction of October 7th, and tell the story of Aner. We will do so before a special Hakafa, circuit, dedicated to the victims. And then we will dance with tears in our eyes. Because the joy of Simchat Torah is a deep Jewish joy that must never be extinguished. 

In Israel, Allison was on the ground for Hersh’s Shiva and shared with his parents that all of us Beth El had him in our hearts and send them so much love. It brings me comfort knowing that one of us from Highland Park was able to be there on our behalf. 

Marissa is organizing a second project where each of us can send the Goldberg-Polin Family a note. She will turn them into a display that will contain many brief handwritten notes to the family, similar to the small prayer notes deposited in the Kotel. Please participate by taking one of these special papers from the synagogue office and leaving it there by October 4th. The “wall” will be framed and shipped to Israel upon completion.

Please join our community at these two important events marking one year since October 7th.