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Daniel Stein Kokin

What’s in a Date? On Commemorating October 7th (or 22 Tishrei)

As the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks approaches, we are confronted not
only by the question of how we should commemorate them, but of when. The date October 7th is of course indelibly etched in our collective consciousness; indeed, as the war plods on and dozens of hostages remain in captivity, for many of us every new day remains — frustratingly, depressingly, unbelievably — October 7th. In light of this reality, and given the wide awareness of this date among the general public (even if segments thereof are already eager to forget or downplay it), is it not obvious that we should mark these difficult events on the date for which they are best known? Yet October 7th as a date of commemoration brings with it a major problem. Because of the discrepancy between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars, October 7th typically falls in the midst of the holiday season, often on particularly significant days therein. Consider 5786/2025, when it will fall on the first day of Sukkot, “the season of our joy,” or 5789/2028, when October 7th will coincide with
Shabbat Chol haMo’ed? Can we possibly recall the Nova Massacre on the very day on which we chant, “enjoy yourself while you are young, let your heart lead you to enjoyment in the days of your youth” (Kohelet 11:9)?

An alternate approach would have us proceed on the basis of the Hebrew date, 22 Tishrei. This, too, is difficult, for it would mean that the final day of the chagim in Israel, and their penultimate day in the diaspora, would forever be marred by mourning over last year’s attacks. (To be sure, we have faced a similar problem with Yom Kippur since the 1973 war. Yet the serious and existential character of this day of days lends itself readily to the recollection and/or commemoration of the
war that began on it.) Pushing the date of commemoration back to the 24th of this month would preserve the spirit of holiday rejoicing both in and outside our land, while at the same time maintaining proximity to the period in which the events unfolded. There is precedent in our tradition for this approach.

While the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on Erev Pesach in 5703 (April 19, 1943), the date of the Yom haZikaron laShoah velaGevurah it inspired (best known simply as Yom haShoah) was ultimately set by the Knesset approximately halfway between the end of Passover (21 Nissan in Israel) and Israeli Independence Day (5 Iyar) on 27 Nissan. Likewise, the Fast of Gedaliah is marked on 3 Tishrei, even though the murder of the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor of Judea Gedaliah ben Achikam ben Shaphan (on which see Yirmiyahu 40:7-41:3 and Melakhim Bet 25:22-26) may well have occurred on Rosh Hashanah (see Radak to Yirmiyahu 41:1; to be sure, the Babylonian Talmud in Masekhet Rosh Hashanah 18b implies that the murder actually occurred on 3 Tishrei, but its statement to this effect may merely reflect the emergence of this date as the appropriate occasion on which to mark the tragedy by the time of the text’s composition.). This incident, in which many other Judeans as well as Babylonian soldiers were killed, resulted in the elimination of the last remnant of Jewish autonomy, and indeed population, in Judea.

The case of Tzom Gedaliah is particularly relevant, for the institution of, say, a Tzom haDarom on 24 Tishrei would create a striking parallel between a fast recalling internecine Jewish violence (Gedaliah was felled by a band of fellow Judeans) at the beginning of the holiday season and another in memory of the invasion of our sovereign state at its close. Since it was precisely the destruction of ancient Judea that formed the background for the internal divisions on display in Gedaliah’s demise and because many would say that recent internal divisions in Israel helped render Hamas’s horrors possible, the two commemorations could reinforce one another in stimulating and powerful ways. (As it happens, Tzom Gedaliah and October 7th will do so this year, since the fast will be pushed back a day because of Shabbat to 4 Tishrei, i.e. Sunday, October 6!)

But this approach comes with its own price, in the form of an inconsistent date on the calendar of greatest currency for most Israelis and the word at large, namely the Gregorian. And while holding off commemoration until after the conclusion of the holiday season, it still risks redirecting the positive energy with which we ideally leave the chagim in a mournful, anxious direction. This, of course, is the great liturgical challenge with which the events of last year leave us going forward.

Yet another possibility, one that would directly address this difficulty, would be to fold commemoration of the Hamas attack and subsequent war into an existing date on the Jewish or Israeli calendar. For this, too, there is precedent, as the Holocaust is powerfully commemorated in some circles on the Ninth of Av or, instead, the Tenth of Tevet. As a me’eyn churban (or quasi-destruction), this past year’s attacks certainly could be as well. I, for one, found it extremely powerful this past summer to recite Nahal Oz survivor Nurit Hirschfeld-Skupinsky’s “Eykha yashvah vadad” (“How She Sat Alone”) and other newly composed kinot alongside the classic Tisha b’Av dirges (Tamar Biala, “O how she sat alone: New Laments for a Beloved Land,” Times of Israel, August 4, 2024, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/o-how-she-sat-alone-new-laments-for-a-beloved-land/.) Granted, there is no one day that so symbolizes the Holocaust as is the case with the events of last year. Yet as the October 7ths have dragged on, as the drones and deaths and fires have multiplied, and as the northern and now Iranian theater of the conflict has become ever more prominent, it is increasingly and tragically clear that Charvot Barzel (“Swords of Iron”) – the official Israeli designation for the ongoing conflict – is about much more than just a single day, too.

Furthermore, the date for commemoration that we select reveals a great deal
concerning how, and by whom, we want this commemoration to be perceived. In choosing between October 7th or 22 or 24 Tishrei, we are deciding whether the tragic events of last year belong primarily on the world stage or should instead be chiefly regarded as part of Israeli or Jewish history. In either case, however, the choice reflects the perception that the events warrant a day unto themselves. By contrast, were one to decide to commemorate these events on either the Israeli Yom haZikaron and/or Jewish Tisha b’Av, this would subsume the attacks in a much longer and broader national story.

In short, in choosing a date on which to commemorate, we are negotiating our own varied and hybrid identities (as Jews and/or Israelis, as Jews and Americans, as members of the Jewish people and citizens of the West, etc.), attempting to impose a clear hierarchy of values and priorities upon an unstable and inconsistent set of emotions and perspectives. The difficulty of doing so was on clear display in the decision passed by the Israeli cabinet this past March, the unanimity of the measure’s approval ironically only underscoring the depths of the underlying ambivalence. (Sam Sokol, “Cabinet approves national remembrance day for October 7 massacre, Gaza war,” March 17, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/cabinet-approves-national-remembrance-day-for-october-7-massacre-gaza-war/.) For it was decided to commemorate the Hamas incursion in perpetuity on 24 Tishrei, except for this coming year, in which because the 24th falls on Shabbat, October 7th will instead be commemorated, yes, on October 7th; as indicated above, this will be 4 Tishrei, i.e. the day after the Fast of Gedaliah. It is as if the Israeli government wants to have its ugah (cake) and eat it too. By fixing the long-term date as 24 Tishrei, the cabinet acknowledged the propriety of the Jewish State and the Jewish people memorializing the Hamas invasion according to the Jewish calendar, but by resolving to mark its first anniversary on October 7th, there is an implicit acknowledgement and acceptance of the visceral significance this date has taken on. And, we might well ask, once one October 7th is commemorated on October 7th, will it ever be possible to do so differently?

My aim in this piece has not been to advocate for a particular day of commemoration, but rather to stimulate thought and deliberation. Commemoration of collective loss and tragedy should never simply be a given, but should rather reflect our values and worldview, and as such merits careful and sustained discussion. Indeed, it is my fervent hope that we can push the commemorative process forward precisely by wondering and discussing, “what’s in a date?”

My thanks to Naya Lekht, Amanda Newman, Gregory Newmark, and Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this essay, which was originally published in התחדשויות Beginnings: Torah Teachings from Ramaz Upper School Faculty and Students (Yamim Noraim & Sukkot 2024).

About the Author
Dr. Daniel Stein Kokin is the Librarian of the Ramaz Upper School in New York City and an adjunct member of the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies faculty at Arizona State University. He has lectured and published widely on both Jewish and Israeli cultural history, and is the creator of the “All the Points” project, which is developing online, interactive maps exploring the settlement history of the Israeli-Palestinian region since the mid nineteenth century.
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