October 7 Three Years Later

September 30, 2026 in Israel, Scroll

By Larry Sidman

We have just emerged from the period of intense introspection that commenced at the beginning of Elul and culminated on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We are in the middle of celebrating Sukkot, our joyous fall festival holiday. In a few days, we will mark the third anniversary of the barbaric October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of 1,250 innocent Israelis and the taking of more than 250 hostages. Permit me to share some reflections about where we are today as the Jewish people, especially those living in Israel and the United States. I offer the caveat that these are generalized observations, not intended to be directive but only to prompt further thoughts about how we can hold on to hope that the year 5787 will be better.

In Israel, the trauma of October 7 remains. These are not just memories. They are the lived experiences of the families of loved ones lost or tortured in captivity. They are the disrupted lives of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and reservists who have been fighting in the south and the north, on the ground, at sea, and in the air, risking their lives to safeguard all Israeli residents from attacks by Iran and its terrorist proxies. They are the agonizing separations of spouses and children who have lost irrecoverable time together due to separation from those they love. They are the delayed aspirations of creating new, life-saving and life-enhancing technologies and products placed on uncertain hold.

At the same time, Israeli Jews correctly feel more secure about their national security because of the dramatic weakening of the military capabilities of Israel’s enemies who openly embrace the destruction of Israel. The remarkable resilience that Israelis demonstrated in the days and weeks immediately following October 7 manifests itself today in the rebuilding of their homes and communities in the Gaza envelope and in the northern cities and towns near the Lebanese border. And yet Israeli Jews are exhausted from the prolongation of a multi-front war. As Israelis look to national elections at the end of October, they are passionately divided about a vast array of policies impacting their society, the only exception being the imperative of protecting physical security.
For American Jews, the impact of October 7 has been very different. Immediately following Hamas’s attack, we experienced a solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel not seen since the Yom Kippur War fifty years earlier. There also was a noticeable uptick in Jewish community engagement. For many American Jews, that fervent embrace of Israel has been loosened in the ensuing three years because of the moral questions raised by the manner in which the Netanyahu government has conducted the Gaza War and other troublesome policies of the Netanyahu government. Most significantly, although anti-Zionism as an ideology of the far left had been gaining traction in America since the beginning of the 21st century, it has spread in ever broader and more powerful waves since October 7. It is now fused with traditional expressions of antisemitism emanating from the far right, ranging from exclusion from groups and organizations to harassment and intimidation of people openly identifying as Israelis or Jews, especially in our schools and universities, to attacks on synagogues and Jewish institutions. The American Jewish community is spending more than $1 billion this year simply to protect itself. Antisemitism not seen in the United States since the 1930s is now an undeniable part of the American Jewish experience.

What can Israeli and American Jews do to brighten the picture in the coming year? I suggest going back to basics.

First, let us remember that despite our many disagreements and differences, we are Am Echad, one Jewish people. We have an obligation to the well-being of each other. To implement that obligation, let us learn more about each other, exhibit greater empathy for each other, and demonstrate more compassion for each other. Let American and Israeli Jews increase our touch points with each other by spending time in each other’s country and seizing every opportunity to engage with each other in person and virtually.

One way to achieve this deeper understanding is to return to the roots of Jewish peoplehood found in the Torah. There we find side-by-side the universalist moral principles to guide human behavior and the particularist narrative of the Jewish people. Eretz Yisrael is central to that narrative, beginning with the third parsha in the Torah, Lech Lecha, wherein God instructs Abraham to leave his ancestral home and go to the land of Canaan, Eretz Yisrael, the land promised as an inheritance for the Jewish people, to the last parsha, V’Zot HaBrachah, previewing the fulfillment of God’s promise. Our prayers for 2,000 years subsequent to the destruction of the Second Temple have highlighted the return from exile to Eretz Yisrael. They have motivated Jewish survival. Now that Eretz Yisrael again has become a sovereign homeland for the Jewish people, American and Israeli Jews together must share the recommitment that Eretz Ysrael will continue to survive and thrive as a homeland for the Jewish people and as a beacon of moral light unto the nations.

In the name of Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah, let us continue to hope for a good, sweet new year.

Am Yisrael Chai!