In 2001, Yom Kippur took place on September 26, just two weeks after the devastating terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center. By that time, the major Jewish denominations had prepared special prayers for the Yizkor service, a time dedicated to remembering the dead. The Reform movement’s prayer, inspired by the liturgy for Jewish martyrs and Holocaust victims, solemnly read: “Remember all those who perished at the hands of terrorists that day. Grant their families peace and comfort in Your name.”
This year, Yom Kippur begins on October 11, just four days after the first anniversary of the horrific October 7, 2023, massacre carried out by Hamas in Israel. Once again, rabbis and liturgists are working to incorporate this deep communal pain into the sacred rituals of the holy day.
Various groups have released supplements to the High Holiday prayer book, known as the machzor, containing reflections, prayers, and services to address the collective grief that has gripped the Jewish community over the past year. This sorrow is particularly heightened by the ongoing crisis that began with last year’s attack, which shows little sign of abating.
The entire High Holiday cycle this year is overshadowed by the events of October 7, most notably Simchat Torah. On this day last year, Hamas breached Israel’s southern border, a tragedy that claimed the lives of over 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Congregations are grappling with how to celebrate a holiday meant for joy on the yahrzeit (anniversary) of such devastating loss.
Yom Kippur brings its own set of challenges as Jews confront the past year of trauma. The Yizkor service, traditionally a time for personal reflection and remembering individual loved ones who have passed, now collides with a broader, shared grief. How does one balance this personal mourning with the collective sorrow of a community devastated by terrorism?
Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed, reflecting on this tension, wrote “Yizkor for the Victims of October 7” for the Conservative movement. She emphasized that the goal is not to overshadow personal losses but to acknowledge how Yizkor evolves with life’s circumstances. Her prayer weaves together the voices of the victims of October 7 and echoes the traditional “Eleh Ezkerah,” the martyrology recited on Yom Kippur. It also includes a rendition of the memorial prayer “El Maleh Rachamim,” which honors those “cruelly massacred on that fateful Simchat Torah.”
Other rabbis, like Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky, are also incorporating these new liturgical elements into their services, acknowledging the importance of recognizing both personal repentance and the current moment in Jewish history. Pitkowsky underscores the traditional Yom Kippur tension between personal introspection and communal solidarity, noting that even individual confessions of sin are made in the plural during the holiday.
Similarly, Rabbi Naomi Levy, who wrote a Yizkor meditation for October 7, sees no contradiction between personal and communal grief. For her, this communal mourning is an essential responsibility. At her Nashuva congregation in Los Angeles, Yizkor will include prayers for both individual loved ones and the victims of the October 7 massacre.
Supplementary prayers from various Jewish organizations further emphasize the necessity of addressing this communal grief. Some, like Binyamin Holzman’s prayer for the Shalom Hartman Institute, draw on the biblical character of Job to invoke a sense of injustice and suffering. Rabbi Melanie Levav, in a supplement for Svivah, a Jewish women’s empowerment group, writes that Yizkor provides the words for mourning, even when there are no words to fully express the tragedy of October 7.
In some synagogues, the Yizkor ritual will also serve as a platform for political statements, though this approach is not widespread. A coalition of left-leaning Jewish organizations is hosting a “Yizkor” event in Brooklyn on Yom Kippur, blending communal remembrance with political activism, though many rabbis prefer to keep politics out of their services.
Rabbi Joel Levenson of Midway Jewish Center in Long Island, for instance, emphasizes that his role is to lead his congregation through a traditional, Torah-centered service. His synagogue will also hold a special Yizkor service on Shemini Atzeret, the day before Simchat Torah, to honor the victims of the October 7 massacre and recognize the tragic overlap between the joyous holiday and last year’s terror.
This anniversary is especially personal for Levenson’s congregation, as one of their own, Omer Neutra, was taken hostage on October 7 while serving as a tank commander near Gaza.