The Surge, the Core, and You
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785 – 2024
Shana tova!
Here we are. On the precipice of a new year. A year ago, when we marked the beginning of 5784, all of you were here in Waterloo, and I was on the other side of the globe in Singapore. Could we have imagined the year that the Jewish people would endure? And yet, just a few weeks after communities gathered to dip apples in honey, hear the shofar, and chant the echoing words of Unetaneh Tokef, the Jewish people endured the worst atrocity, the highest number of Jewish casualties in a single day since the Shoah.
Collectively and individually, there are so many ways we all responded to the horrors of October 7. Some of us were glued to the news for weeks – some of us still are. Some of us tried to ignore what was happening, to go on with life as usual. Some of us tried to protect those we loved from rising antisemitism around the globe. Some of us sought to educate ourselves even more on the history of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to better understand how we got to this point, and where we might go from here. And some – many actually! – turned to Jewish community.
Several months ago, the Jewish Federations of North America, JFNA, embarked on a study to determine just what was going on with North American Jews following October 7. Had our behaviours changed in any measurable way? What were our attitudes towards Israel? How had we been experiencing antisemitism in our communities, workplaces, and online?
Here’s what they found: since October 7, there has been a surge in engagement in Jewish life. “These same events have also fueled an explosion in Jewish belonging and communal participation that is nothing short of historic. Jews are feeling more invested in their identity and community and looking for ways to connect,” researchers Mimi Kravetz, Sarah Eisenman, and David Manchester declared in May.[1] 43% of Jews have sought more engagement in Jewish life. 83% of Jews identified as not so engaged before October 7 – and 40% of those have sought deeper engagement, deeper connection with Judaism and Jewish community, what researchers have named the Surge.[2] Of the core of the Jewish community – those who were already deeply involved, our communal leadership – the people in this room who show up week after week – 60% of that population found themselves being even more engaged in Jewish life, and needing more from their communities.[3]
I wonder if you see yourself in these statistics, or if you see people you love in these statistics. Maybe you are part of the “Surge” – those who were previously less engaged with Judaism and the Jewish community, who, following October 7, showed up, maybe for the first time in a very long time. Perhaps this is your first High Holidays with us, or in a synagogue at all – ever, or in many many years. Maybe over the course of the last year, you have found yourself feeling called to come closer to Judaism and Jewish life.
Or perhaps you are part of the “Core,” those who have described “feeling more comfortable and less distant in the Jewish community since 10/7.”[4] The war and the impact of rising antisemitism on Jewish communities around the world weigh heavily on your heart, and you know that the Jewish community is a place you can turn to.
I know that these statistics are far more than numbers on a page. This is the reality of our community over the past year. In Singapore, our Thursday morning minyan that had been struggling along for months, not really drawing in a lot of folks – suddenly was standing room only, with people who had never been seen at that service before. Since I joined you in January, I’ve heard your stories. I have met with families who never considered joining a synagogue to be important – until this year. I’ve spoken with some of you who never imagined yourselves to be regular Shabbat attendees – until this year. We have folks here who are discovering the Jewish heritage somewhere in their family tree – and want to know more about it. This desire to dig deep into who we are as Jews and come together with other Jews spans the generations. We have young people, pulling their families to the synagogue, knowing that this tradition, this community, is their inheritance, that being Jewish is more than being the target of hateful slurs. One of our new religious school students grew up with a strong sense of Jewish identity, and something about this last year compelled them to ask their parents if they could start studying for b-mitzvah, entering Jewish community and beginning formal Jewish education for the first time. This is the Surge in action.
Dr. Mijal Bitton highlights the paradox that we’ve seen play out over the last year. “Every day since October 7, I have…seen how this rise in antisemitism and anti-Zionist rhetoric is inspiring Jewish pride and solidarity with Israel among so many young Jews.”[5] Turning to Jewish community, living Jewishly with pride was not an inevitable outcome! Hate and fear could have caused equal numbers to turn away from Judaism and Jewish community, to hide their Jewish identity, to downplay their heritage and connection to Am Yisrael, the Jewish people. But – it didn’t. We told a different story. Despite the pain of the last year, including the antisemitism that many of us have faced in our places of work and in our public schools, Bitton writes that even though they may feel lonely in their offices, the young professionals with whom she works \“are rediscovering that they belong to a rich history of Jews who experienced othering and expulsions but whose greatest strength was in each other. They are rediscovering the millenia-old Jewish rituals and community structures that nourish belonging.” Our Jewish story does not end with “othering.” It ends with belonging, with building a Jewish community that is expansive, that includes all of us as stakeholders in its future.
The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley explores the ways that humans seek belonging, and that our societal institutions – including, yes, our synagogues! – can increase and deepen a sense of belonging. Belonging is more than a warm and fuzzy feeling; it is more than mere inclusion. In institutions of belonging, everyone has a stake and a voice. This community belongs to you – whether you are born Jewish, chose Judaism as an adult, or are part of a Jewish family by loving someone Jewish – and you belong to Temple Shalom, and to the Jewish people. This sense of belonging is essential, and can be literally life-saving. Canadian author Casey Plett writes, “Humans need community. Every piece of our knowledge tells us this. Isolation and loneliness are deadly, like actually deadly. It’s hard to quantify such experiences, but researchers taking stabs posit that social isolation drags down a person’s mortality as much as alcoholism or smoking.”[6] Being in community, feeling a sense of belonging beyond our small circles of family and friends, is essential for our survival as individuals and as a people.
Over the course of these High Holidays, we are going to explore together what are some of the reasons driving this surge. Essentially – why be Jewish? This good question has more than one good answer. Some of us may be called to lean into our Judaism as a response to fear and anxiety – Judaism can be a source of comfort in dark times, and living Jewishly in community offers us a way forward. Some of us might resonate with the idea that being Jewish, participating in this synagogue, is about being part of something bigger than any one individual, than any one Jewish community – about being part of the great project of Jewish peoplehood. And some of us might find joy in living Jewishly, in celebrating Jewish time together, in being proudly, ardently Jewish. Perhaps some combination of fear, peoplehood, and joy bring you here tonight, bring you to Judaism throughout the year.
I’ll close tonight with a story. There’s two old Jewish men who religiously attend shul, always showing up on time on Shabbat morning – let’s call them Shmuel and Moshe, but they could just as easily be Rivky and Tsipi, Dena and Adam, Ovadia and Noa. Every single week, Shmuel and Moshe are there – through bad weather, ill health, family crises. One day, their synagogue had a guest speaker, a rabbi visiting from out of town. As the rabbi made the usual small talk with the congregants over coffee and bagels after the service, she asked Shmuel and Moshe why they each came to shul that day. Shmuel responded, “Why do I come to shul?! Why, I come to talk to God! Obviously!” “Moshe, why do you come to shul?” “Oh, me? I come to shul to talk to Shmuel!”
Whatever brings you here tonight, and over these next 10 Days of Repentance – it’s the right reason. If you are here to talk to God, or to talk to August, or because this last year has left you feeling scared, or seeking connection with something bigger than you, or searching out joy and pride. No matter why you are here, we’re glad that you are.
Shana tova.
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[1] ‘The Surge,’ ‘The Core’ and more: What you need to know about the explosion of interest in Jewish life – eJewishPhilanthropy
[2] ‘The Surge,’ ‘The Core’ and more: What you need to know about the explosion of interest in Jewish life – eJewishPhilanthropy
[3] Jewish Federations of North America, Israel-Hamas War Sentiment Survey, 2024, 38. Berman Jewish DataBank
[4] Ibid, 39.
[5] Opinion: Anti-Israel protests encourage Jews to turn toward Zionism | CNN
[6] Casey Plett, On Community, 49.
