Community marking Oct. 7 with gatherings, demonstrations and prayer

Inside synagogues and Jewish day schools, on street corners and at campuses, community members will gather, demonstrate and pray to mark one year since Hamas’ heinous attack on Israel.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, along with several local partners, is hosting a communitywide event at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill.

“It’s important that all of us who care about the suffering that took place on Oct. 7, 2023, gather together, as one unified and strong community,” said Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Jeffrey Finkelstein. “We owe it to the lives lost, those taken as hostages and those injured on that day to assemble in person and lean on one another for support and to collectively show the world how much we care.”

Registration for the Federation event is required at oct-7-pgh.eventbrite.com.

With numerous opportunities for congregants, students and others, event organizers around the city hope to foster thoughtfulness, remembrance and support.

Synagogues

At Congregation Beth Shalom, “We will commemorate the massacre during the Yizkor service on Shemini Atzeret,” Rabbi Seth Adelson said. The choice of commemoration date follows the “actual yahrzeit” of the attack.

In 2023, both Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah fell on Oct. 7, as the two Jewish holidays are concurrent in Israel. In the Diaspora, they are broken into two days. Regardless of location, the Jewish memorial service of Yizkor is held on Shemini Atzeret.

Typically, relatives and loved ones are remembered during Yizkor. At Beth Shalom, Yizkor will include a special El Maleh Rachamim prayer for the victims of Oct. 7. The text will be included in the congregation’s Book of Remembrance and was developed by rabbis from the Shalom Hartman Institute, Adelson said.

Although Adelson has yet to finalize his sermon for Shemini Atzeret, he said it will likely reference passages from the book “One Day in October.”

Written by Yair Agmon and Oriya Mevorach, the work recounts 40 stories of strength and courage from the events of Oct. 7.

Pittsburgh community members demonstrate support for Israel during an Oct. 8, 2023, gathering at the Squirrel Hill branch of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. Photo by Adam Reinherz

Congregations Poale Zedeck and Shaare Torah also will commemorate the first yahrzeit. In celebration of Simchat Torah, Pittsburgh’s two largest Orthodox congregations will hold a joint observance.

Shared programming will “allow us to process both the grief of klal yisrael (the Jewish community) while finding comfort and strength in achdut (brotherhood) and joy of our annual celebration of the Torah,” Rabbis Yitzi Genack and Daniel Yolkut, as well as board presidents Dr. Louis Felder and Joshua Sunshine, said in a prepared statement.

Afternoon prayer services will be held at Shaare Torah on Shemini Atzeret. Following services, both rabbis will speak in an effort to “remember the profound losses,” the joint statement said.

Once the holiday transitions to Simchat Torah on the evening of Oct. 24, dancing and kiddush will be held. The following morning, services and dancing will occur at Poale Zedek, along with kiddush and a women’s lecture.

Rodef Shalom Congregation will recall the events of Oct. 7 during Yom Kippur’s Yizkor service by reading several poems from “Shiva,” according to Rabbi Sharyn Henry.

Edited and translated by Rachel Korazim, Michael Bohnen and Heather Silverman, “Shiva” includes 59 works written by Israelis in the aftermath of Oct. 7.

Temple Sinai also will mark one year since the attack during the Yizkor services of Yom Kippur and Shemini Atzeret, Rabbi Daniel Fellman said.

Staff and leadership from several area congregations said they will join the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s communitywide commemoration.

Jewish day schools

Pittsburgh’s three Jewish day schools are each offering students various ways to connect with Oct. 7.

Community Day School is marking the day with “Agony to Harmony,” a ceremony that has been “thoughtfully curated by the World Zionist Organization and the Department of Israelis Abroad,” said Casey Weiss, CDS’ head of school. Through songs, readings, testimonies, videos and prayers, there will be a “significant opportunity for our community to come together in reflection and remembrance.”

Included within the day’s programming is a “wall-sharing activity,” where students can express thoughts through drawings and messages, she added.

Joining CDS that day will be alumni Ari Gilboa and Ilay Dvir. Gilboa is a member of the IDF. Dvir was recently honored by StandWithUs for continued support of Israel.

At Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, the day’s tenor will be “similar to what happens here on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Day of Remembrance,” Hillel Academy Principal Rabbi Sam Weinberg said.

Whether Oct. 7 is marked by a tekes (ceremony), classroom discussion or video presentation, a student-centered approach will be taken where “everything is dependent on the grade.”

The school’s staff includes two rabbis who served in Gaza recently: Eitan Farkash and Evyatar Ifergan. Both educators will speak to students on a “grade-specific level,” as will alumni who are current members of the IDF, Weinberg said.

Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh is offering “different programs for the different departments on Oct. 7,” said Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, Yeshiva’s CEO and head of school.

One example, he said, involves meeting with seventh through 12th grade girls and discussing the “Torah perspective, as taught by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, on the Jewish response to what happened on that painful day.”

After the holidays and yahrzeit, Rosenblum said, Yeshiva will “kick off a two-week program on responding to darkness by increasing light.”

Campus

At Hillel JUC, students will find the building stocked with snacks, therapists and pets, and will be offered moments to share reflections, discussion and an art activity, according to Hillel JUC president and CEO Dan Marcus.

The day also will be spent ensuring students’ safety and security, Marcus said.

At noon, participating Hillel JUC students will travel to the University of Pittsburgh’s quad to publicly read the names of victims of Oct. 7. Memorial candles will be lit, letters will be written to displaced children in Israel and a table will be covered with a “specially created commemorative tablecloth of victims of Oct. 7, yellow ribbons and over other resources made available by Hillel International and StandWithUs,” Marcus said.

At 3 p.m., Carnegie Mellon University students will hold a similar tabling activity. Hours later, students from both campuses will travel to Squirrel Hill for the Federation-hosted commemoration.

Chabad House on Campus is commemorating Oct. 7 with a series of programs culminating in a kosher catered dinner on campus.

Students will “participate in a Mitzvah Marathon on campus to honor those who perished,” Chabad House on Campus Co-Director Sara Weinstein said. Additionally, Chabad is “encouraging students” to join the communitywide event outside the JCC.

Following the Squirrel Hill-based program, students are invited back to Chabad’s Oakland space for conversation and dinner, Weinstein said. Ultimately, the goal is that students have an opportunity to “process this critical time.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.