It's a 'very difficult time' for U.S. Jews as High Holy Days and Oct. 7 anniversary coincide

Known as “The Days of Awe,” Judaism’s High Holy Days — which begin on Wednesday — annually provide an emotional mix of celebration, introspection and atonement for Jews around the world.

This year, for many, the emotions will be extraordinarily powerful, given that the midpoint of the 10 days spanning Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is Oct. 7 — the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the still-ongoing war in Gaza.

For Jews in the U.S. — the world’s second-largest Jewish community after Israel — the past 12 months have been challenging in many ways linked to Oct. 7. There’s been a surge in antisemitic incidents, and many college campuses were wracked by divisive pro-Palestinian protests. Jews grieved for Israelis killed or taken hostage by Hamas; many also are grieving for the tens of thousands of Palestinians subsequently killed during Israeli's military offensive in Gaza.

“It’s been a very difficult time, the most difficult time for a Jew in America that I’ve been alive,” said Gayle Pomerantz, senior rabbi at Miami Beach’s Temple Beth Sholom. “I’m hoping that the holidays will help to contextualize our suffering and not let it overtake us.”

Another Miami Beach rabbi, Eliot Pearlson of Temple Menorah, took note of the civilian losses on all sides.

"It’s painful to us because we know how much it hurts when we lose a child, when we lose a mother. And just because it’s on the other side doesn’t mean it’s less painful to us,” he said.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said the confluence of the Holy Days and the Oct. 7 anniversary created “an impossible moment” for rabbis ministering to their congregations.

He noted that liturgy for Rosh Hashana – the Jewish New Year – includes posing the question, “Who will live and who will die (in the coming year)?”

“That’s going to resonate in a different way this year, for certain,” Jacobs said, evoking Oct. 7 as “a day of unbelievable grief in a war that is not only not ending, but maybe expanding.”

Pomerantz and Jacobs each said they had seen signs of a resurgence of Jewish pride and solidarity. In Miami Beach, Pomerantz said, there have been higher enrollments in her synagogue’s religious school and “intro to Judaism” classes, as well as in attendance at worship services.

“This is a moment where we need one another. We need community,” said Jacobs, whose organization represents more than 800 Reform synagogues in North America.

At the same time, there is pervasive anxiety about a rise in antisemitic incidents over the past year.

Major Jewish groups have been tracking this trend, which was confirmed last week in the FBI’s 2023 Hate Crime Report.

It found that the Jewish community was the most-targeted religious group, with 1,832 anti-Jewish incidents accounting for 67% of all religiously motivated hate crimes recorded by the FBI. That was up from up 1,124 incidents the prior year. The incidents include vandalism, harassment, assault, and false bomb threats.

One consequence: A mood of vigilance. Ahead of the High Holy Days, for example, there have been online training sessions offered by the Secure Community Network, which describes itself as the official safety and security organization of Jewish communities in North America.

Topics have included how to stop severe bleeding and how to respond to an “active threat” alert.

CSS, another Jewish security organization, has offered classes in Krav Maga, a self-defense system developed for the Israeli military that uses techniques derived from boxing, judo, karate and other disciplines.

The CEO and executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, provided a stark overview of the security situation in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

“I travel around the country all the time,” he said. “Any synagogue, any Jewish community center, any Jewish home for the elderly has armed guards in it -- people with firearms, in uniforms.”

“That is not normal,” he said. “You cannot find other elderly homes or YMCAs with armed guards.”

“In these 10 days, between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, it’s going to be a lot of soul-searching in the Jewish community about where we are and where are we going,” Greenblatt said. "If we’re not safe on the campuses where we learn, in the places where we work, in the synagogues where we pray, where are we actually safe?"

Noah Farkas, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, agreed that this is a difficult time, appropriate for asking existential questions.

“We are checking in with our higher selves to try to be better, asking, ‘What do we do with our lives?’”

“The thing to do is to choose and to act,” he said. “To choose righteous things to do ... to be caring about others.”

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, counseled anxious Jews to take a long view.

“If we’re going to look at this narrow frame of what happened on Oct. 7 and subsequently, we can become very discouraged,” he said. “We have the ability to step back and see it in the context of a long history ... being misunderstood, being attacked, being hated, and then finding a way to be part of having justice prevail.”

On Rosh Hashana, Hauer said, Jews “pray for a better world, where the presence of God and goodness will be clear and where evil will wither.”

“It seems right now we’re actually as far away from that as we can be,” he added. “So there isn’t a better time ... Our prayers are most powerful when they come from very deep feelings.”

In many Jewish communities across the U.S., special services are planned in conjunction with the Oct. 7 anniversary.

One distinctive example is in New York City, where Jews who oppose Zionism and support pro-Palestinian causes will convene for an evening service as Rosh Hashana begins on Wednesday.

Leading the service will be Rabbi Andy Kahn, executive director of the American Council for Judaism – an 82-year-old organization focused on Judaism as a religion as opposed to a nationality.

“I’ve felt a big part of my calling is creating spaces for people who want a Jewish life, but don’t identify with Zionism,” said Kahn. “I know a lot of people – Jews, non-Jews, Palestinians — who want Palestinian liberation and who are not antisemitic.”

In Florida, Pomerantz’s Temple Beth Sholom will host a commemoration service for the Miami metro area in conjunction with other synagogues and institutions on Oct. 7.

Among the participants will be Rabbi Pearlson of Temple Menorah, a Conservative synagogue in Miami Beach, where he has lived since the 1960s.

For the High Holy Days, his message will be of unity and perseverance despite the “tremendous trauma,” highlighting that Jewish people repeatedly have endured and risen stronger from attacks throughout history.

“We thought we lived in a new modern world where … we were hoping that things had changed,” he told the AP. “In reality, the players might have changed, but the game hasn’t. And unfortunately, their motivation is to destroy the Jewish consciousness, the Jewish people, and heritage and culture.”

At Temple Beth Sholom, Pomerantz plans do something new for Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement. In the morning service, all six clergy at the temple will give short reflections about Israel, instead of one rabbi delivering a single message.

Pomerantz plans to focus on “a framework of hope.”

“It’s easy now to not feel hope. It’s easy to feel despair, discouraged, frustrated, betrayed, anguish,” she said. “My message is, we cannot see ourselves as victims. … We have to see ourselves as people who have agency, in some way. And with that comes hope.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Worshipers sing as they pray for peace, during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Worshipers dine on sushi after a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Craig Berko, left, director of membership at Temple Beth Sholom, chats with senior rabbi Gayle Pomerantz as she prepares to start a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Gayle Pomerantz, left, senior rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom, chats with worshipers before the start of a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Craig Berko, left, director of membership at Temple Beth Sholom, hands out prayer books as people arrive to a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Craig Berko, director of membership at Temple Beth Sholom, prepares to hand out prayer books during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Rabbi Robert A. Davis speaks during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Gayle Pomerantz, left, senior rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom, and Cantor Juval Porat sing during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Men wear yarmulkes as they attend a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Gayle Pomerantz, senior rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom, speaks during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Quinn Schimel, second from left, lights a Shabbat candle as she stands with her family during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Worshipers stand to say the names of loved ones in need of prayers during a Shabbat service, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Hurricane Helene is shifting the presidential candidates’ plans this week.

Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is cutting short a campaign visit to Las Vegas to return to Washington for briefings. Republican candidate Donald Trump is heading to Georgia to see the storm’s impact.

Hurricane Helene’s death toll is more than 100 people and rising, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina.

In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign.

Presidents typically avoid racing toward disaster zones so they don’t interfere with recovery efforts. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations.”

President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak about his administration’s response to Hurricane Helene on Monday morning. He plans to visit areas affected by the storm later this week, with efforts to not disrupt response efforts.

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Here’s the latest:

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, both Republicans, did not attack the federal response Monday morning at a news conference in hard-hit Augusta.

“Just know that we will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state with our federal, state and local partners,” said Kemp, who has often been the subject of attacks by Trump before the former president and Kemp recently patched things up.

The two-term governor said he spoke directly to Biden on Sunday evening and has “been playing phone tag” with Harris.

“The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we’ve got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” Kemp said. “He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that. But we’ve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit in our state operations center in Atlanta. We’ve got a great relationship with them.”

Kemp said the state has submitted a request for an expedited emergency declaration to get federal aid for governments and individuals. Normally, the federal government doesn’t start issuing aid until state and local governments have completed damage assessments. Kemp said FEMA acknowledged the request.

Allen, a five-term congressman who said a tree is “resting” on the roof of his home after the storm, also said storm relief would be bipartisan

“This is not a Democrat or Republican issue,” said Allen, who represents the Augusta area. “This is an American issue. This is a Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina issue.”

Trump says is he heading to Valdosta, Georgia, and bringing along “lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things” to help those struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Trump says in a post on his social media site that he will be joined by “Many politicians and Law Enforcement,” including evangelist Franklin Graham, whose organization, Samaritan’s Purse, has been helping with disaster relief, and Valdosta’s mayor.

He adds that he was going to stop into North Carolina, and has “lot of supplies ready for them,” but that he is postponing that part of his trip because “access and communication is now restricted” and so that local emergency management “is able to focus on helping the people most affected, and not being concerned with me.”

In typical Trump fashion, though, he also tried to exacerbate political fault lines, claiming, without evidence, that the federal government and the state’s Democratic governor were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” There is no evidence that is the case.

Asheville, one of the hardest-hit parts of the state, is solidly Democratic, as is the rest of Buncombe County.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, the Trump campaign is lowering expectations that the former president’s running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance to have a decisive performance, telling reporters in a teleconference on Monday that Walz is a seasoned politician who is nimble on the debate stage.

“Tim Walz is very good in debates, really good. He’s been a politician for nearly 20 years. He’ll be very well prepared for tomorrow night,” said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump. He predicted the Democratic governor of Minnesota will be much more “buttoned up” than he is on the campaign trail and ready to defend his record, but said, “that’s not to say that JD Vance won’t be prepared tomorrow, or that somehow he isn’t up to the challenge.”

Miller was joined on the call by Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who has been helping Vance prepare for the debate by playing Walz in debate prep sessions. Emmer said he has spent the last month reviewing all of Walz’s past debate performances, studying his mannerisms and policies, and declared that “JD Vance is prepared to wipe the floor with Tim Walz and expose him to the radical liberal he is.”

Harris says that when President Biden called and told her he was leaving the presidential race in July, it left her with some trouble sleeping.

“Everything was in speedy, speedy motion” and “I was not sleeping so well,” she said on an episode of the “All the Smoke” podcast.

She laughed and added, “I like to sleep.” She recalled that, the morning after that phone call, Harris said she wasn’t able to sleep. So she got up and started marinating a pot roast for her family.

“Everybody was asleep. I just got up and started cooking,” she recalled.

Vice President Kamala Harris says she’s been clear about her racial identity and background and doesn’t listen to questions about it raised by critics, including her presidential race opponent, Republican Donald Trump.

Asked about criticism about her identity on an episode of the “All the Smoke” podcast that was released Monday, Harris responded, “I don’t listen to it.”

“I’m really clear about who I am,” she said. “And if anybody else is not they have to go through their own level of therapy.”

Harris said she’s happy to discuss her identity more fully, but that really doing so would require an hours-long discussion about the role of race in America.

“My mother was very clear. She was raising two Black girls to be two proud Black women,” Harris said. “And it was never a question.”

Vice President Kamala Harris says of the infamous blind date where she met her husband, Doug Emhoff, “I just have a really bossy best friend.”

Set up by especially persuasive friends, Harris told an episode of the “All the Smoke” podcast that was released Monday that Emhoff picked her up for the date in a BMW. He immediately divulged, “I’m a really bad driver,” she recalled.

“I guess he was trying to create a little expectation,” Harris said.

She said the pair then went to Emhoff’s favorite restaurant where people who worked there “were like, ‘Hey Doug.’” She didn’t name the restaurant.

At the beginning of a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, Harris said “we will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.”

Trump, speaking in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, described the storm as “a big monster hurricane” that had “hit a lot harder than anyone even thought possible.”

He criticized Harris for attending weekend fundraising events in California while the storm hit.

“She ought to be down in the area where she should be,” Trump said.

The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations.” She also spoke with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and she received a briefing from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell while she was traveling.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a rally on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)