U.S. Jews approach High Holy Days with anxiety and determination

Threats will motivate congregants to fill synagogues with prayers, a rabbi says.

- By Davip Crary

HUNDREDS protest at the Israeli Consulate in New York City ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the U.S.

For Jewish congregations across the United States, the upcoming High Holy Days — always a compelling mix of celebration and repentance — will be more charged than usual this year.

Rabbis say many of their congregants are worried by a surge of antisemitism, including two deadly attacks in the spring, yet are all the more determined to worship together in the coming days.

“There’s no doubt this is a very precarious moment,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “People are feeling unsettled and vulnerable and also feeling that the High Holy Days could not matter more.”

At Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles, Rabbi Erez Sherman said his diverse congregation seems eager to gather side by side.

“Obviously security is of utmost concern,” Sherman said. “It’s led to people saying I want to be here. I want to be in these pews. And I want to walk out with a proud Jewish identity as well.”

Similar sentiments came from Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president at the Orthodox Union.

“Our precious country’s atmosphere is currently hate-filled, making this a difficult time for all Americans and certainly for the Jewish community,” he said via email. “Rather than discourage high holiday attendance, this will motivate our community to come together and fill our synagogues with the prayers.”

The High Holy Days begin this year on Monday with Rosh Hashana — the Jewish New Year — and continue through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which ends at nightfall Oct. 2.

The recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has put Americans nationwide on edge. For Jewish Americans, there was a stretch earlier this year that violently dramatized the threat of antisemitism.