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How do we forge ahead after calamity? The Jewish way of mourning offers a roadmap.
(JTA) — On Monday morning, we began our day at Maharat, the women’s Orthodox yeshiva, with heartbreak. As we absorbed reports of the devastating Hamas attack on Israel, we decided to cancel class and instead gather as a community with students, alumnae and faculty to say Tehillim, or Psalms, and tefillot, prayer. With over 30 Maharat students, alumnae and faculty living in Israel, our focus was coming together after the horrific events of the weekend.
Our students in Israel shared their experiences on this unprecedented Simchat Torah, which fell in Israel on Shabbat. We heard about spouses who were called up to the front line. They had to leave their synagogues to don their uniforms; they kissed their children sweetly on their heads, hugged their wives and left for battle. We heard the quivering voices of mothers who watched as their sons left for the southern border. One mother told us that her soldier son is still able to call home and check in. She’s grateful, but petrified. Students spoke about how quickly they had to get to their safe rooms following a siren, how the shelves in supermarkets are empty and how their kids are at home with nothing to do.
While one of the students was speaking, she stopped in the middle of a sentence. “I have to go. There’s a siren.” Suddenly she and many of the other students left their Zoom square and headed for safety.
This year, we had planned our study of halacha, or Jewish law, to focus on the laws of aveilut, or mourning. The subject is either fitting or ironic, considering that so very many people are actually in mourning, in our community and across the Jewish world.
But beyond those who have lost family members and friends, aveilut reflects the emotional state of so many at this moment. It can also be a metaphor for the experience we are navigating right now.
Saturday morning, which was Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah in Israel, and Sunday, when Simchat Torah is celebrated in the Diaspora, felt like the state of aneinut, the in-between time before the burial where the law says we are exempt from doing things we are ordinarily commanded to do. We had to determine how to celebrate while beginning to mourn.
When the holiday ended, there was the acute pain akin to the burial: the realization that life as we knew it would be hard to manifest again. Like the kriya (ritual tearing of the mourners’ clothes), our hearts were ripped apart.
Then, as the hours passed, and many of us were able to connect with family and friends, the seven days of shiva set in. During shiva, life is disrupted, we are not able to sit comfortably, and we listen and process one another’s stories, trying to offer comfort, through words, hugs and of course, through food.
The rhythm of mourning is not a straight line. There will be times that may even feel “normal.” There will also be many times that will feel excruciating, where moving through the days will feel like moving through a thick fog. There is no one way to be, and the continuum of reactions are all justifiable. Mostly, we have no idea what the period of shloshim, 30 days after burial, and even the shana aleph, the year ahead, will bring. Carrying the burden of trauma and war will be ever-present, and with time, we will have to relearn how to live our lives.
How do we forge ahead? One faculty member shared that we cannot exist without hope. Rather than watch distressing videos of death and destruction, especially ones that will be shared by the terrorists themselves, find the ones that express the acts of kindness and support that is the bedrock of our community. I have seen countless videos of people giving blood, cooking and baking food to send to army bases, and packing boxes of supplies. Someone I know stepped in to help by being a cashier at a supermarket for the day, after the regular workers were called to military service.
This is what we do. In times of tragedy, we rally. We find ways to support one another with comfort, food and supplies. These acts of chesed, kindness, cannot undo the tragic loss of life. They cannot bring home the hundreds who are held hostage. They cannot heal the thousands of wounded. But digging into our humanity reminds us that there is light in darkness. That the tohu vavohu, the utter chaos we will read about in this week’s Torah portion about Creation, will be quelled by small and heroic acts of chesed.
Then, because we don’t have a choice, we will get back to the work of learning, teaching, and serving. It’s the Jewish way.
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The post How do we forge ahead after calamity? The Jewish way of mourning offers a roadmap. 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.