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Here’s why we’re holding a Jewish Oktoberfest despite the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust
(JTA) — This week, Lehrhaus, the newly opened Jewish tavern and house of learning I run in Somerville, Massachusetts, planned to joyfully announce our long-in-the-works Oktoberfest celebrations.
Lehrhaus Oktoberfest was to be a week of seriously fun events, laced with its its own very particularly Jewish kind of triumph: The world’s first Jewish tavern and house of learning was planning to host the world’s first Jewish Oktoberfest, with educational programming sponsored by the German consulate general in Boston.
But with friends and family in Israel killed, missing and wounded, and everyone bracing for what comes next, that’s an announcement we felt we could no longer make.
On Monday, we planned to completely cancel Oktoberfest. How can life possibly go on as it was? How could we contemplate anything right now beyond the horrific massacre that just took place, the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust?
And then I looked up at my fridge, at the most unexpected Jewish New Year card I’ve ever received, and changed my mind. Lehrhaus is going to hold Oktoberfest — albeit a very different one than we had planned. Let me tell you why.
Just over a month ago I received a Rosh Hashanah card from the German Consulate in Boston. In some ways the card made total sense, as the German Consulate is sponsoring our educational programming for Oktoberfest. In other ways, the card came as a total shock.
My grandparents could not possibly have imagined a world where the German government would send Rosh Hashanah cards, let alone sponsor a celebration of Jewish life. And yet, it does. And in a world of growing antisemitism, the German government has emerged as a steadfast ally of the Jewish people.
That card is a reminder that the world we live in today does not dictate what the world will look like in the future. Impossible-to-imagine futures can become possible.
So starting on Thursday and running through Oct. 22 we will host a subdued version of Oktoberfest at Lehrhaus, not just to remember German-Jewish life, but as a symbol of hope for what the world can become.
There will be a class on composers who transformed their experiences during the Holocaust into transcendent music, a session on the life and thought of the 19th-century Modern Orthodox theologian Rabbi S.R. Hirsch and a class on Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi in the modern world.
We’re inviting everyone to gather, learn something about German Jewry, enjoy the best damn soft pretzels this side of Berlin, and be together in the comfort of community. Proceeds from our Zoigl Star beer — our Oktoberfest collaboration with Lamplighter Brewing — will go directly to those affected in Israel.
Now, more than ever, we need each other. We need to be together. And we need to keep the dream of a brighter future alive, even when it can be hard to see.
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The post Here’s why we’re holding a Jewish Oktoberfest despite the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.