Friday Shabbat Shalom

I went into a ladies’ room last fall and saw a ghost. I had just arrived at a synagogue in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to give a lecture on All Other Nights, my novel about Jewish spies during the Civil War. As I hurried to the restroom before greeting my hosts, I opened the door and stopped short. In the mirror, next to my 21st-century reflection, was a woman wearing a 19th-century corset and petticoats, struggling to pull a calico dress over her hoop skirts.

In the aftermath of October 7th, amidst heightened antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron hold deeper significance than ever before. Many Jews are asking: How can we celebrate when so many are suffering? How can we remember the trauma of our past, while we’re still experiencing it? How can we capture the heartbreak we have experienced while at the same time, highlighting the gratitude we feel? This past week, CAJE presented a pivotal webinar focused on empowering our Jewish institutions and professionals to innovate in how they commemorate of Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron.