The High Holiday, Rosh Hashanah, has begun, marking the Jewish New Year. Local spiritual leaders are thinking about how to structure their services given the turmoil in Israel.
Since last October, the war between Israel and Gaza has intensified and threatens to break out into a regional conflict after Iran’s large missile attack on Israel on Tuesday night after Israel's attack on Lebanon this week.
Rabbah Riqi Kosovske, from reform synagogue Beit Ahava, in Northampton, said while the pain has been immense, she wants to lead services with the message "to heal the world in the majesty of nurture."
"I think about what does that mean? Kindness, caring, compassion,” Kosovske said. “Like, what if we reset all the conflicts and all the ways we approach every conversation with a friend, with a neighbor in our city and our town and our school and we turn it and come from a place of compassion."
Kosovske said it’s been a hard year for congregants to process grief from the war, but is inviting everyone to both feel that pain, and work to create space for hope.
“One of the things people are doing by coming to services, I think is affirming their humanity. They're taking time out of their regular lives to observe this ancient holiday that's about renewal and hope,” Kosovske said. “It's about leaving the old year that was and stepping into a new year with intention about ourselves, but also how we are going to be in the world personally, how we will be as a community in the world, and how we can make positive change with our lives in the year ahead.”
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day long celebration and started at sundown today.
