(Excerpts from Rabbi Barry Chesler - full comments at kolramah.us)
Fifty-two years ago this past Thursday on the Jewish calendar, war broke out in Israel as soldiers from Egypt and Syria crossed the borders established by the 6-Day War into Israel. On the holiest day of the year, Israel was attacked. That year the Book of Life was inscribed with the blood of Israel’s soldiers, and Yom Kippur has never been quite the same. Fifty years and two days later on the English calendar, war again broke out in Israel with the invasion of Hamas terrorists into Israel, murdering indiscriminately over a thousand people: Israelis and non-Israelis, Jews and non-Jews, civilians and soldiers. This time the holy day was Sh’mini Atzeret/Simhat Torah in Israel, Sh’mini Atzeret in the Diaspora, the culmination of זמן שמחתנו [z’man simhateinu], the season of our rejoicing. This year, October 7 falls on the first day of סוכות. Such are the vagaries of the Jewish calendar.
Let us find away to rejoice, to celebrate, even with tears, for that is our sacred task, to keep going. Let us, as we entered יום כיפור [Yom Kippur], pray that we find ourselves on a path for the coming year that brings us closer to God and closer to each other.
עם ישראל חי
[am yisra’el hai]
[The people of Israel live]
Syosset, NY
10/07/25
טו תשרי תשפ"ו
[15 Tishri 5786]
