High Holidays 5787:
Resolve, Renew, Recommit
Resolve, Renew, Recommit
We are resolving to stay in the struggle.
We are renewing our collective responsibility.
We are recommitting to our vision of a transformed world.
Nearly three years into the genocide in Gaza and two years into Trump’s attempted fascist reign, our grief, rage, and heartbreak knows no end. Our opposition wants us to despair, because it leads to inaction.
In these conditions, fighting despair is a revolutionary act.
Palestinians have been struggling for decades, against all odds. We honor our Palestinian comrades and all those who resist empire by honoring our grief, refusing despair, and letting our passion fuel our continued struggle.
When we reflect on this year, we must acknowlege that we lived through the crushing conditions of expanding facism, we witnessed the brutality of the Israeli military’s ongoing genocide, and that we continue to mourn deeply for the unspeakable and ongoing loss of life. And, when we reflect on this year, we must acknowledge that we are living in a time of the beauty and power and possibility of a movement that refuses to give up: exponentially more people fighting for the safety and dignity of our neighbors and of all people, and more and more Jews divesting from Zionism and building Jewish communities rooted in justice, solidarity with Palestinians, and collective liberation.
In Talmud Bavli, Taanit 23a we read:
One day, Ḥoni the Circle Maker was walking along the road when he saw a certain man planting a carob tree. Ḥoni said to him: This tree, after how many years will it bear fruit? The man said to him: It will not produce fruit until seventy years have passed. Ḥoni said to him: Is it obvious to you that you will live seventy years? He said to him: I found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.
We honor all those who planted the seeds of the movement in which we now fight. We grieve every day, but we will not despair. We will not give up. We bring our aching hearts with us into the continued work of fighting for collective liberation. We plant the trees of life that will grow and fruit in our lifetime, and for our descendants.
On the high holidays, we declare that the year ahead is not predetermined, that we the people have power to determine through our actions the course of the future.
We recommit to teshuva: internal and relational transformation.
We recommit to t’fillah: personally, publicly, and collectively declaring our dedication.
We recommit to tzedakah: material action to change conditions towards justice.
In this season, may the wisdom of our ancestors give us the resources, language, and strength to embolden ourselves to continue the fight, to plant the seeds, water the sprouts, and feed the growing forest of expanding movement that knows: Palestine will be free, Palestinians will return home, and will live in safety, freedom, and dignity. The Jewish future is anti-Zionist and committed to liberation for all people.
Below are myriad opportunities across the U.S. and Canada — ways to mark this season of the Jewish year in community with anti-Zionist Jews who are embodying Jewish community and Judaism of transformation, dedication, and justice.
If you are organizing an offering not listed here, please send it to [email protected](opens in new tab).