Yom Kippur One Year After October 7th

Posted on October 9, 2024

By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.

It’s hard to believe we’ve passed the one year mark since October 7th 2023. It’s unfathomable that 101 hostages remain in Gaza. I can’t make sense of the rising antisemitism and I remain deeply heartbroken for all we’ve endured this year.

The truth is, every Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, we are called upon to imagine that we stand at the precipice of life and death. However you may feel about the imagery of Unetaneh Tokef and the “Book of Life” in which we seek to have our name inscribed and ultimately sealed, these High Holy Days serve as an opportunity to examine one’s own mortality, and, in so doing, their deeds. If you had asked me on Rosh HaShanah or Yom Kippur last year what I thought the year ahead would bring, I would have surely said something positive. One of my dearest friends and I always go into the new year saying, “This is going to be our year!” As it says in the Mahzor, a year of abundance, a year of blessing, a year of good fortune…a year of song, a year of fulfilling life… a year of rest, a year of consolation, a year of abundant joy, a year of delight…” and it ends with that passage from the people of Sharon, which until this moment I always found puzzling: “May it be Your will, HaShem our God and God of our ancestors, that their homes not become their graves.” (Mahzor Lev Shalem p. 333-334)

And looking back, there were some of those things. There were beautiful babies born, and weddings and b’nai mitzvah and all our usual holidays. And all year, was shadowed by October 7th and its aftermath. I couldn’t have known then that, just as I thought I’d crossed the finish line of the Tishrei holiday season, an entirely new challenge would arise. 

I am so honored that in this week of Teshuva, I could lend my voice to the local Port Clinton gathering, organized by those incredible Shamash women. I’m in such awe of their commitment to Israel, their leadership and their strength. I am so honored that I could represent Beth El alongside Rabbi Schwab, Wendy Abrams, Consul General to the Midwest Yinam Cohen and Congressman Brad Schneider at the JUF memorial event on Monday night. It’s moments like these, in community, that I find strength and hope that carry me. At Beth El, we will mark the yahrzeit on Simchat Torah, and I hope you will join us. Because we will dance again. And we will acknowledge that our joy is diminished by this too. 

As we approach Yom Kippur, I see with new eyes just how mysterious the year ahead is. I see how little I can take for granted, and I pray that God lives up to the name “Av Harachamim” the merciful Parent. I pray, with my whole, yet heavy and still broken heart, that we be forgiven, individually and as a people. And though it can be hard to ask “Who shall live and who shall die?” I want to raise up the final words of that Unetaneh Tokef prayer: “Uteshuvah, utefillah utzedakah ma’avirin et roa-hag’zerah” Repentance, prayer and acts of loving justice can lessen the harshness of the decree. May we all be blessed for a better year. May we all be sealed in the book of life. May our intentions, our emotions and actions help us to create the world we need – one of peace, safety, truth, and love. G’mar Chatimah Tovah.