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Harriet Gimpel

A Memorial Tradition or Memorial Inspiration

It is 365 days of October 7. Tomorrow is October 7, 2024. October 7 will be October 7, 2023, forever. It has been 365 days of remembering. Days of fear, days of routine work, shopping, family dinners, protests, demonstrations, nightmares, birthday parties, names of fallen soldiers and murdered hostages, celebrating some hostage rescues, mourning victims, struggling with stories of West Bank settlers terrorizing Palestinians and Israeli soldiers harassing them at road blocks, devastated by pictures of Israeli destruction in Gaza and Beirut, relieved that a terror cell here and a terrorist leader there will never be able to attack again, scared by thoughts of their successors, terrified by Iranian missile attacks, shaken by UAVs and rockets from different directions, pondering government tactics, wondering how political interests have superseded ceasefire opportunities that would have released hostages. Remembering the massacre. Remembering Hamas war crimes against Israelis, in their homes. Remembering.

The Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana, began this year on the evening of October 2, 2024. Like Friday evenings, on the eve of Jewish holidays it is customary to light candles and say a blessing.

Distant though I have grown from religious practices, I value traditions connecting me to a heritage. And to a frame of reference for defiance – a way to question how individuals identifying as Jews practice hate. How have Jewish politicians not done more to fulfill the commandment of releasing prisoners from captivity?

On the eve of Rosh Hashana, with Haim’s daughter, and our five granddaughters anxious for their turns at lighting candles, I was in tradition mode.  Maybe cultivating belonging to a tradition for our granddaughters.

Unlike the blessing over the candles on Friday night when we say we are fulfilling the commandment to bless the Sabbath candle, I explained, on Rosh Hashana, we bless the candles for Yom Hazikaron – another liturgical name for Rosh Hashana. Yom Hazikaron means Memorial Day. It flew past the kids, but Haim’s daughter raised an eyebrow.

Memorial Day. In Israel, the day before Independence Day, generating discussion about transition from grieving to celebrating Independence Day, in a year without a war.

Rosh Hashana – Memorial Day? This past year, every day was Memorial Day. Blessing the eve of a new year as Memorial Day, when it should be an anchor of hope, looking forward? Traditionally, from Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, through Succot and Simchat Torah, Jews talk about being inscribed, by God, in the Book of Life for the year ahead.

It strikes personal chords for those recalling loved ones lost last year or worrying about frail loved ones who may not be blessed with another year of life.

October 7 was Simchat Torah last year. That day, the book is finally sealed, and the annual renewal of reading the Torah from beginning to end is celebrated.

No sirens jolted me in Kfar Saba while rockets were launched at northern Israel throughout Rosh Hashana. Ingrained in me – Rosh Hashana is Yom Hazikaron. Time for a memory jolt. A little help from Google: it’s about God remembering his creations. There is more to be said, associated with the biblical story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. If your curiosity is piqued, let Google lead you to more details.

Remembering God’s creations. This new year can be our occasion to remember God’s creations – the rest of humankind. To remember wildlife, plants and animals, the environment. A time to recall we should protect these creations in the year ahead.  War destroys the environment, wildlife, trees. War creates mushrooms of smoke, death, destruction, and death.

Since October 7, forgetting to remember is a rarity.

Today, October 6, 2024, a terrorist attacked at McDonalds in Beersheva’s central bus station. As I write, one fatality and others seriously injured. I grieve. The perpetrator was killed – a Bedouin man, a citizen of Israel.  Jewish Israelis will draw stereotypic conclusions. They will forget Bedouin citizens of Israel held hostage in Gaza, or those who sacrificed their lives saving Jewish Israelis on October 7.

Referring to Rosh Hashana as Yom Hazikaron, may we remember the value of life. May we be inspired to pass on traditions of peace. May people join one another to negotiate shared societies and a sustainable world.

Harriet Gimpel, October 6, 2024

About the Author
Born and raised in Philadelphia, earned a B.A. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University in 1980, followed by an M.A. in Political Science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Harriet has worked in the non-profit world throughout her career. She is a freelance translator and editor, writes poetry in Hebrew and essays in English, and continues to work for NGOs committed to human rights and democracy.
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