A particularly somber Yom Kippur

Hello, friends. I hope you are well.

I am checking in on the eve of Yom Kippur with a heavy heart and an upset stomach. The ongoing, seemingly never-ending war in Gaza is making me want to throw up.

Earlier in the war, I attended events at my synagogue to discuss it, but I have stopped. They held a discussion about Zohran Mamdani, and I didn’t attend that either because the major headline about Mamdani is where he stands on Israel.

I wish we had more space to talk about other things.

I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to hide my politics from this blog and from my professional life, but I’m gonna let it all hang out for a minute, with the disclaimer that I am open to your disagreement.

Bibi Netanyahu is like my deranged, tyrannical uncle. We have removed him from the group chat and no longer invite him to holiday dinners, but he is still family, and what he does impacts the family name.

I’ve been thinking about the saying “kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh.” In the grand Jewish tradition, there are disagreements about what this means, but the loose translation is “all Jewish people are responsible for one another.”

For better or for worse, Jews around the world are connected, and our actions impact one another. We American Jews are feeling this acutely with the Gaza war.

I find it frustrating to witness those who seem to relish their righteous indignation, who will burst into a “Free, free, free Palestine” chant at the drop of a hat. Rather than treating the situation as a tragic geopolitical conundrum, they act like Palestine is their favorite sports team. A mascot for the liberation of oppressed people worldwide.

People are obsessed with this war, and they like to make it known. But no matter how loud they are, what’s happening on the ground on the other side of the world remains the same.

I don’t know where this leaves us as Jews. Hopefully my rabbi has some wise words for us tomorrow. If yours has any wise words, feel free to share them with me.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this beautiful, nuanced piece by Jay Michaelson in the Forward. It's a contemporary take on the Al Chet prayer, in which we list our collective wrongdoings.

Gmar chatimah tovah. Talk to you soon.

Rachel