Dear Friends,
We are nearing the end of the fall holiday cycle, three weeks that carry many emotions. From the exaltation of Rosh Hashanah to the trepidation of Yom Kippur, we now close joyous Sukkot and look ahead to Simchat Torah. But for many of us, this season has looked different since October 7, 2023.
“Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” is a country song Alan Jackson wrote after the September 11 attacks. In it, he asks a question many of us ask after major events: Where were you when it happened? We remember those moments for years. For the Jewish community, October 7 is one of them. We all remember where we were that Saturday morning, how we felt, and how we carried it. Those feelings have not ended, and they grow stronger as the date approaches.
We can’t, and shouldn’t, carry this alone.
The Talmud tells this story: Rabbi Yoḥanan fell ill. Rabbi Ḥanina came to visit him and asked, “Is your suffering dear to you?” Rabbi Yoḥanan answered, “I welcome neither this suffering nor its reward.” Rabbi Ḥanina said, “Give me your hand.” He gave him his hand, and Rabbi Ḥanina raised him up and restored him to health. The Talmud then asks: Rabbi Yoḥanan had healed others the same way, so why couldn’t he stand himself up? The answer: “A prisoner cannot free himself from prison, but depends on others to release him from his shackles.” (Talmud, Brachot 5b) This story reminds us that there are things we cannot do for ourselves. Sometimes we need another person to reach out a hand and help us stand.
One of the most important things we can give one another is hope. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was taken hostage on October 7 and killed in captivity, reminded us that “hope is mandatory, not a suggestion and not advice. It’s a command.” And in her recent Yom Kippur sermon, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Central Synagogue in New York urged us not “to underestimate what is yet to come, or our responsibility to help shape it.”
Hope is not simply believing things will get better. It is recognizing that we need one another, and that we share responsibility for what comes next.
Please join us next week as we remember October 7.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,
Rabbi Moriah Simon Hazani
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