For Jewish Israelis, the High Holidays are now intimately connected to the events of Oct. 7, 2023. It was on Simchat Torah two years ago that thousands of Hamas gunmen invaded Israel and murdered some 1,200 people, taking 250 hostage and sparking the war that continues today, with 48 hostages still being held in Gaza, alive and dead.

The Masorti (Conservative Judaism) movement in Israel invited both clergy and lay people to write new prayers in both English and Hebrew that reflect the new reality after Oct. 7 which are put together in a collection titled “Rejoice with Trembling.”

Several of those involved say that Oct. 7 has led to a new search for meaning in Israeli society.

“Rosh Hashanah has themes of life and death; it puts us in the mindset of thinking of our mortality,” Rabbi Chay

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