Nearly 850 community members gathered at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church on Oct. 6 to commemorate the anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023.
The community-wide memorial service, in partnership with all Northern Virginia Jewish congregations, included prayer, song, name-reading of those killed on Oct. 7, poetry written by people in Israel and video testimony from people directly affected by the events of Oct. 7.
“This service was both a reflection of our grief and a resilient call for peace,” Rabbi Amy Schwartzman, the senior rabbi at Temple Rodef Shalom, said in a press release. “Our faith teaches us that peace is possible.”
Cantor Sydney Michaeli of Temple Rodef Shalom said the event brought community members together in a time of mourning and remembrance: “It was successful, prayerful and emotional.”
“We wanted to make this something that united our entire Northern Virginia community, across denominations, across the area. We know people are coming from near and far,” Michaeli said. “We wanted to feel really connected and united together.”
Instead of speeches and formalities, the event was centered around prayer.
“We’re trying to center more of the personal and create a more intimate experience, even though we [had] hundreds of people there, we’re hoping that being a subregion of the DMV allow[ed] us to achieve a little more relational connection,” said Rabbi Michael Holzman of Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation, the lead coordinator for the Oct. 6 event.
“This whole year has been such a whirlwind of emotion: grief, rage, sadness, anger, loneliness, and, at the same time, it’s been gratitude for the number of people who have stepped forward, and pride at the words the Jewish community has given to each other and to the State of Israel,” Holzman said.
Knowing that community members had yearned for the “spiritual power of solidarity” immediately after Oct. 7, Holzman said he wanted the event to take place in a sanctuary, so the team of local clergy members chose the largest synagogue in Northern Virginia.
“I think the value of a sanctuary is that it’s a space dedicated for separate purpose and holiness that we turn to to help assign transcendent meaning,” Holzman said. “That’s why we call it a sanctuary. It’s like a spiritual air raid shelter for us at a time when we’re bombarded with emotion.”
He added that Oct. 7 is more than a standalone event.
“We as the Jewish people are trying to figure out how we are going to carry our emotions from and since Oct. 7 with us as part of our Jewish identities as we go forward,” Holzman said. “The war is ongoing; we’re not just marking a one-time event on Oct. 7. It is also recognizing the need for ongoing resilience.”
Music played a large role in the event, according to Michaeli. Attendees sang traditional High Holiday songs and popular Israeli tunes to symbolize the return of the hostages still held in Gaza and the unity of the Jewish people.
“And of course, prayers for peace, ‘Oseh Shalom’ — the hope for building a better future and a better tomorrow,” Michaeli said.
Many local clergy members across denominations and Northern Virginia synagogues began planning the memorial service in the early summer, which was meaningful to Holzman because of how geographically spread out the Northern Virginia Jewish community is.
“Every institution has kind of been doing their own thing, including mine, for much of our history,” Holzman said. “That can work for many things, but at a time when the Jewish people are under attack, hopefully we can unite in collaboration and solidarity in better times, too, to continue to grow the vitality of the Jewish community here in Northern Virginia.”
Michaeli, who said it was a positive experience to work with people she doesn’t get to work with often, emphasized the importance of creating a space for people to be together.
“I want the community to know that all Jewish people, wherever they’re coming from in this time, whatever their thoughts are, whatever beliefs they hold, whatever they’re going through, there’s space for you,” Michaeli said. “Your clergy love you and care about you in this season.”
“We all deserve a space to come and be Jewish and pray. We just need to hold each other.”
