Rabbi Kliel Rose sees “uncertain, anxious and insecure” faces when he looks out over Congregation Etz Chayim during this High Holiday season of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, marking the beginning of a new year on the Jewish calendar.
The two major religious holidays bracket the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Concerns about safety have generally been few and far between for members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community in the past, but that’s no longer the case, Rose says.
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Rabbi Kliel Rose of Congregation Etz Chayim is speaking to congregants about the trauma of Oct. 7.
“That has radically changed in many ways since the attack and the rising antisemitism that followed,” he says.
Many in the community, a significant number of whom have been “reeling” since the co-ordinated invasion by thousands of Islamic militants who murdered more than 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis and took 240 others hostage, are concerned about public displays of their faith, he says.
And they are also unsure about traditional allies who’ve expressed jarring “vehement criticism” of Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza triggered by the attacks that has taken tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, many of them women and children.
“I want to believe there is no threat to my person due to the rise in antisemitism,” Rose says. “But I do wonder how safe I am in public spaces.”
Rose is speaking to congregants about the trauma of Oct. 7 during services at Etz Chayim this week and next.
“Our shock, our pain, our response, our love and support for Israel and the Jewish obligation to confront our moral red lines while Israel is engaged in a just war,” he says.
He is asking the congregation to think about how the situation can shape their lives going forward. At the same time, he is reminding them they can continue to “unconditionally believe in the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in our ancestral homeland, Israel.”
At Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Rabbi Anibal Mass is speaking about “the power of memory.”
“It’s all about remembering all we discovered about ourselves and our community since Oct. 7 and how important it is to create a ritual around that tragic date so we never forget to be proud Jews united in the face of terror,” he says.
Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Synagogue Rabbi Yosef Bennaroch says that while the attack was terrible, it was also “a wake-up call for the Jewish people.”
Over the past year he has seen members of the community showing renewed pride in their heritage and more people attending services and practising Jewish rituals.
“It took Oct. 7 to realize all we have is each other,” Bennaroch says. “The more united we are, the stronger we are… cry for all of those we have lost and cry for the hostages that remain in Hamas captivity (but also) “know there is hope… we have always been able to rise from tragedy to create a better and stronger future.”
The High Holidays are a “deeply reflective” time, says Jewish Federation of Winnipeg CEO Jeff Lieberman.
“It is a time of introspection, healing and reaffirming the bonds of community,” he says.
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John Longhurst
Faith reporter
John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg’s faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.
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