Resilience. Exhaustion. Pride. Sorrow.
These are some of the feelings I have in late September 2024, nearly a year after Oct. 7, 2023.
The resilience of Israel as a country and a people is admirable. “We are strong,” Israelis have told and continue to tell me. “We will get through this.”
Those sentences often come immediately before or after they share how challenging things have been for them in the wake of the Hamas attack — there has been the trying to heal from trauma, the internal displacement, the stress and anxiety, the reserve duty, the economic impact, the disappointment and/or distrust in government, etc.
Israelis — and much of the Jewish world — are exhausted. Global perception of Israel is challenged; antisemitism around the world is of great concern. Just ask anyone in medicine right now — things have gotten so difficult in many medical schools and health care systems that the Jewish Federations of North America organized a “fly-in” to Washington to meet with lawmakers and congressional staff to bring attention to this, in hopes of a hearing being held.
Antisemitism spans sectors, of course. It exists all over the workplace outside of healthcare, in our local schools, and as we have seen last spring and still this fall, on campuses across North America.
The challenges we face as a Jewish people at this moment are many, yet at least for me, I take as much pride as ever in being a Jew. As a people, we have an unbelievable story, have brought amazing things to our world, and always — in the face of adversity — we carry on. I have pride in everything from demonstrations for democracy in the streets of Tel Aviv to pride in how the IDF works to minimize civilian harm, even while fighting a war fraught with near-impossible circumstances. I take pride in what Israel is able to do (both within its borders and beyond) for such a relatively small and new country. I take pride in our global unity as a people, even when we disagree with each other (and when do we not?), and in our unbreakable spirit.
At the same time, I feel sorrow. I feel deep distress and disappointment around there being so many Israeli families who are still missing loved ones, including not only hostage families who suffer the unthinkable daily, but also those who have loved ones deployed or displaced because of war. I’m disappointed that those in leadership have not been able to find ways to bring more Israelis home, and that lives continue to be lost.
There are no simple ways around — or out of — these feelings. Nearly a year after a border of our homeland was breached and we suffered an unfathomable tragedy, we recall like it was yesterday the feeling of that pit in our stomachs, and the urge to be there with our brothers and sisters — to throw our arms around them, grieve with them, and help them in any and every way possible.
Thanks to many in our local Jewish community and across North America, we have been able to help tremendously, with the Federation system raising more than $850 million for Israel relief, and deploying about $600 million of that to date. There is more work to do in Israel, and it will be done.
Still, although I have personally played a meaningful role in our support of Israel in a wide variety of ways, I can’t help but feel challenged by where things stand at the moment. I long for the day when the remaining hostages will return home and those who live in the north can return home. I long for the day when Israelis will feel represented by their leadership and feel that democracy is at full function. I long for peace, to the benefit of all.
We must remember: As long as in the heart within, the Jewish soul yearns, our hope is not (and will not be) lost.
Shana tova — may it be a good year for the Jewish people.
