Jewish people around the world mark the holiday with synagogue services, community gatherings, festive meals, and the blowing of the shofar, a ram’s horn. Foods like challah bread and apples dipped in honey are shared to express the hope for a sweet year.
Last year, the midpoint of the High Holy Days fell on Oct. 7 — the one-year anniversary of the ongoing war in Gaza that has killed Israelis and Palestinians.
For Gubitz, the High Holidays are always a time for self-examination.
But in recent years, her community has carried both grief and the heaviness of world events. It shapes how she approaches her sermon, she said.
“It feels harder to celebrate because of the grief for the Jewish people, the war in Gaza, the trauma of Oct. 7, and the rise of antisemitism and the divide in our country,” she said by telephone. “We’re allowed to experience the joy of the new year, but we also acknowledge the great grief of the world, of the Jewish people, of folks who are innocent victims of war.”
Those dueling emotions — celebration and heaviness, sweetness and struggle — also resonate with Jewish students on Boston-area college campuses. At Northeastern University’s Hillel House, students filtered in Tuesday after morning services for lunch, gathering around tables laid with challah bread. On the walls hung bright artistic posters of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the city of Tel Aviv in Israel.
The room buzzed as students talked about their day and what classes they were excused from. They shared holiday memories of how they would be celebrating if they were home.
Jennifer Stone, the associate director of Hillel House, said she has seen students seeking out community more intentionally.
“What we’ve seen in the last couple years, which has continued to grow, is this desire for Jewish community,” she said. “Even if students can only make it to dinner or one service, it’s really important for them to come and be with their community. We’re seeing a vibrancy that has continued to grow over the past few years.”
Stone said Jewish life is increasingly a factor in students’ choice of a college. It’s a reflection, she believes, of how important it is for young adults to feel supported in their faith, especially during a time of global uncertainty. “It’s harder to be Jewish in America right today. Antisemitism is up. And it’s harder to be a college student in general,” she said, standing outside the room where students had lunch. “What we want here is for it to be easy. Hillel should be radically welcoming, joyful, a place where students can make friends and find their people.”
For Madison McCall, a communications and media major from New Jersey, Hillel has brought her closer to her Jewish culture. “This is more about community for most of us, I think, than it is about religious practice, and especially the state of the world,” said McCall, who transferred from a Catholic university last year. “It’s somewhere you have where you know you’re safe and free to be who you are.”
Jake Sloane, a fifth-year psychology major from New York, reflected on the sermon earlier that morning. The High Holidays serve as a reminder that even in tense times, Jewish tradition emphasizes hope, he said.
“This year, especially, I was very much focused on the state of the world, he said, pausing. ”It’s very intense, it’s very heated.”
“But what was so special was that there was so much stuff about healing the world and wanting there to be peace and safety for really anyone,” he said of the sermon. “It’s heartwarming … it’s not as scary as it feels sometimes.”
That tension between hardship and hope echoes what Gubitz said she is preparing to share when she speaks during Yom Kippur. “This year I’m thinking about the joy and sorrow. I’m thinking about regret and grief and how those are connected to one another, and what we can do to better our lives.”
Sadaf Tokhi can be reached at sadaf.tokhi@globe.com.
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