Finding Light on Sukkot, Two Years After October 7

Dear friends,  Tonight begins the holiday of Sukkot, one of the most joyous holidays in the Jewish calendar. Yet it feels hard to transition from the solemnity of Yom Kippur to this joyful holiday given the fact that tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of October 7th. I will never forget, on my first trip to Israel weeks after the attacks, seeing sukkah after sukkah frozen in time, just as they had been on that terrible morning that changed so much for us all.  

As we all refresh our news feeds, hoping for news of a deal to return all the hostages and put an end to the fighting in Gaza, I have been reading about Sukkot and looking to our tradition for wisdom, and as usual, our tradition delivers. I am reflecting on the mystical custom on Sukkot of welcoming the ushpezin, our symbolic guests and our ancestors, into our sukkah and into our lives. In many Jewish homes, we invite these exalted guests to our table and ask for the blessings each of them has to offer. 

This year, I wonder: How would Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Miriam, Moses, Esther and the others view our modern Jewish experience? Sadly, I imagine the hatred of Jews that led to October 7th and the surge of antisemitism that has followed would feel all too familiar.  Our ancestors faced homelessness, isolation, prejudice, attack, enslavement and more. They would mourn the loss of life on October 7th and would pray with us for an end to the war and for the release of the hostages.   

But while that darkness might not be surprising to them, I like to think that they would be buoyed and perhaps amazed by the vibrancy of Jewish life today. Maybe they would be inspired by the hundreds of teens and young adults from San Diego travelling to Israel every year to follow in their footsteps after thousands of years. Perhaps they would appreciate the robust, spirited dialogue among our community’s leaders about the most pressing issues affecting the Jewish world. They would be shocked, and I hope delighted by the hundreds of daily calls, texts, e-mails and visits between San Diego and our family in Israel and Sha’ar HaNegev, and with Jews around the world. I like to think they would be moved by the ruach of our closing prayers on Yom Kippur, sung with joy with our arms wrapped around each other, accompanied by dozens of shofar blowers all immersed in the moment and feeling the power of community and tradition.   

I believe our ancestors would immediately recognize their spiritual DNA in each of us, and in the institutions that enrich and sustain us. Loving-kindness, strength, connection, leadership, responsibility, humility, gratitude, resilience – all are among the values our ancestors represent and the blessings we traditionally ask of them, and all are demonstrated every single day throughout our Jewish community. Those same values, the values of the ushpezin, are at the heart of Federation’s mission, and drive everything we do.    

I pray that by the time of our October 7th commemoration this Thursday, which I hope you will attend, we will be gathering together to celebrate the return of all of the hostages, an end to the fighting in Gaza, and the promise of a more balanced world.   

Chag Sameach, 

Heidi Gantwerk, President & CEO Jewish Federation of San Diego