The "Yoms"

We’re now in the period of the Jewish calendar sometimes called “The Yoms.” After the conclusion of Pesaḥ, we have a number of modern commemorations and celebrations that happen in quick succession: Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, Yom HaAtzmaut, and Yom Yerushalayim. All four of these days mark events in the more recent history of the Jewish people. And all of them feel different this year. 

Gil Preuss, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, picked up on the complicated nature of these days in a recent piece he published. He wrote: “This year, we will gather a little over seven months after the horrific attacks of October 7th. The war in Gaza continues amid significant loss and suffering. There is a deep sense of instability and insecurity in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. Moreover, the politics dividing Israel, the American Jewish community, and the broader American public are becoming more complicated by the day.”

We are weathering a time of heightened sensitivities and intense emotions. It’s only natural that this impacts our observance of these special days. And it has. 

On Yom HaShoah, our national day of remembrance and mourning for the horrors of the Holocaust, we couldn’t help but notice the parallels between the pogroms of early 20th-century Europe and the pogrom of October 7, 2023, between the rising antisemitism we see in the world today and what we saw as the Nazis were coming to power. Yom HaShoah’s call of Never Again felt more urgent this year. And our ability to heed that call felt somehow less in our control.

Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s memorial day for those who fell in battle and in terrorist attacks, memorialized losses far more fresh and painful than in recent memory. With the weight of the current situation being felt so deeply, we needed both to grieve together and to try to find glimmers of hope and solidarity. At the Krieger Schechter memorial ceremony, our students sang Latzeit MeDika’on, by Yagel Oshri, a popular Israeli song that both acknowledges the painful feelings of this time and also expresses hope that good days will yet come. 

Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s independence day, also felt different this year, more subdued, more complicated. Here in our community, we gathered for an erev shirah, an evening of singing together, which allowed us to celebrate our connection to Israel through classic songs, while at the same time giving soulful voice to our current fears and feelings. It was uplifting to be together, in a space where it felt safe to hold the complexity of this moment. 

It’s not only the Yoms that have been impacted by our current crisis. Our more established holidays, those that originate in the biblical tradition, also felt different this year. We slowed our dancing on Simḥat Torah, paid attention to the existential fear underlying Purim, focused on the elusiveness of freedom during Pesaḥ. 

Reading of the holidays in Parashat Emor this week, we are reminded, however, that our Torah holidays have set rituals and customs associated with them. On Pesaḥ we eat matzah; on Shavuot we offer our first harvest; on Rosh Hashanah we have the shofar; on Yom Kippur we fast; on Sukkot we dwell in the sukkah and take the lulav and etrog. The text prescribes clear to-dos for each holiday. While the holidays feel different to us each year, particularly when something significant is happening in our world, the specific rituals provide a sense of stability for each holiday, serving as a constant that links our celebrations this year to those of all the years before and all the years to follow. 

Being newer observances, the Yoms have no biblically ordained ritual or liturgy like the holidays we read about in the Torah this week. I have to acknowledge that, with so much feeling like it’s up in the air right now, it would be comforting to have firmly rooted practices to structure our journey through this time in the Jewish calendar. These days are so filled with uncertainty and pain that it can feel overwhelming to figure out exactly what to do to participate in them meaningfully. At the same time, their status as modern holidays gives us the flexibility to respond authentically to our current situation, to create new rituals and transform older ones, tailoring our observances to match the emotions of this moment. So this year, the Yoms this year are different - as they should be. May next year find us able to mark these days in peace and in unity. 

Shabbat shalom. 

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