My parents, my husband, and I returned to New York in late October after spending ten days away celebrating Sukkot in Jerusalem, our favorite time of year to be in Israel.

Each month, maybe each week, since October 7^th has felt different. Sometimes filled with fury. With despair. With loneliness. With elation. With heartbreak.

This week felt bleak. The war drags on, and Israel is surrounded by homicidal jihadist enemies in so many directions. Israel is misunderstood by the West, which is drunk on peace and ignorant of basic history.

We landed a few hours before the holiday began — and there really is nothing better than Sukkot in Israel: the sky is so blue, and the nights are so crisp! My daughter flew with us to visit her boyfriend who is in his last year at Reichman University in Herzliya. My son came from Tel Aviv to spend the holiday with us. Our house felt full and happy!

But Jerusalem felt empty. And sad. Usually, Emek Refaim and the train station are hopping over Sukkot, packed with Americans and French and English — but this year it was so, so quiet. There are so much fewer airlines flying to Israel. El-Al’s prices are breathtaking!

There is no way around it — Israel is a country at war. And as resilient as Israel is, the war is taking its toll.

On Thursday, October 17^th, while walking back from a visit to the Kotel, we bumped into a friend who was the first to tell us that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was rumored to be dead.

Like the rest of the world, we waited and waited for confirmation, passing around the photos shared on X. When the confirmation came, though, it all felt far less exuberant than we thought it would be. Of course, we all were happy that the monster was finally dead ­– but the thought of the hostages still being held in the dungeons of Gaza…the thought of Hersh Goldberg Polin and the five that (maybe) almost made it back…it is just so much for a tiny people to bear!

A family friend came for a meal — he is an explosives expert who has been in Gaza for the past 11 months. He said that, except for children, everyone in Gaza belongs to a terrorist group. It may not be Hamas, but it’s a terrorist group and there are tons of them in Gaza. He explained that this is a vastly different situation from the one in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is the minority and has really taken the country and the majority of its citizens as hostages. He said that there are still plenty of beautiful luxurious homes (especially in North Gaza) piled high with UN supplies of food — sometimes so many bags of food that they appear to be used as insulation! If it’s a luxurious home, he said, you know it’s owned by a Hamas member. Anyone with any means in Gaza is part of Hamas. He also said that whenever food supplies are delivered, Hamas fighters surround the trucks and basically steal the supplies.

It became clear while we were there that the milu’imnikim (the reservist soldiers who are typically in their late twenties to early forties) are the ones carrying the burden of this ongoing war. They have been called away from their families and jobs and entire lives for a year now — often leaving their wives and children to manage without them. Not for weeks at a time, but for months and months and months. What a heavy toll! My husband’s best friend moved to Israel with his kids 18 years ago, and his 27-year-old daughter told us about her friend whose husband came back from fighting for months in Gaza. She barely recognizes the person he has become. He barely recognizes himself. They have a baby. Their marriage is falling apart. Many of their friends have died.

While we were there — for just ten days — two dozen soldiers died, leaving more than 50 young children without fathers. We are a tiny nation, and each soldier’s death is a whole world lost.
We met with a compelling woman, Rachel Azaria, who has started an organization called HaOgen (The Anchor), which has matched 10,000 volunteers with 18,000 milu’imnik families. These families need help with meal preparation, laundry, dog walking, driving, groceries — the basics. These are working women with young children who married lawyers, teachers, and accountants — and are now married to soldiers. Their husbands return to their lives just for a few days at a time, exhausted – and then return to fighting the war. The IDF is working with HaOgen because they have figured out that knowing that their families are receiving the support they desperately need is essential to soldiers’ morale.

Before we left Jerusalem, I went for a short jog on the Tayelet, past the old train station. While crossing a pedestrian crosswalk, where I had the right of way, a car crashed into me! I flew up into the air, smashed the windshield of the car, and hit the pavement. Everyone stopped and started yelling at the driver (an old Israeli man) and people could not have been sweeter to me. I spent the day at Shaare Zedek Medical Center where I got great care for my fractured vertebra and I could not help but notice how Jewish and Arab doctors, nurses, orderlies, and pharmacists can all work together as one. My body is bruised. Not fun. But given what happened — I only feel grateful! My head is fine. I can walk. I’m in a brace for at least eight weeks. Here I am writing this little note.

The rest of my trip was pretty limited, but a highlight for my mom and my husband was a tour of the National Library. So many people I love and admire helped build this magnificent addition to Jerusalem! In addition to the regular books available on the shelves, there are 4.2 million books, all kept in a low oxygen room (so there can’t be a fire) run by robotics. There’s a room for ancient manuscripts. There are 30,000 books on the Zohar alone! Michal Rovner’s art, which I love, is part of the experience. My mother said the gardens at the back of the building are breathtaking, and that says a lot!

In the middle of this trip, we planned to spend two days in Tel Aviv. My son is moving to a new apartment, a dreamy little renovated flat in a 1920s building. I wanted to see it and feel the ever-inspiring energy at night on Nahalat Binyamin. We had another set of family meals at the end of the holiday, made especially fun by the addition of some of my son’s friends. I have to take a moment to kvell over my son, living far from home — but in our homeland! — away from all our family.

He has built himself a full life, with challenging work and a mix of Israeli and Anglo friends. He says his Hebrew still isn’t great, but I see how he navigates restaurants and life in Hebrew. He’s been lucky enough to go on vacation with wonderful Israeli families — and play Charades and Bananagrams — all b’Ivrit (in Hebrew). He’s considering switching his work visa to make aliyah and serve in the army. I am so, so proud of him!

It is easier for me to focus on this sweetness than the bigger picture. Israel is winning this war, but the problems won’t go away. These are problems that anyone who cares about our freedoms and life in the West should be worried about. I never used to feel like our children were inheriting a dangerous planet, but there is so much that makes me concerned. Nearly 25 percent of the brides in Iraq are under the age of 14. Women in Afghanistan aren’t allowed to speak outside their homes (or show their faces, of course). 2 million Muslims Uyghurs are living in concentration camps in China. Qatar (the Muslim Brotherhood) has poured untold billions into our American campuses — and that investment has paid off! Most Americans simply don’t understand or care about what is happening… (I won’t get started on the ones who are so brainwashed by the “progressive” Left that they are cheering for the terrorists…while feeling threatened by microaggressions such as incorrect pronouns).

After 9/11, Americans killed 400,000 Afghans and Iraqis. No one calculated the ratio of civilians to terrorists; it certainly didn’t appear on the cover of the New York Times every day! But we now know the ratio was 1 terrorist killed to 9 civilians; Israel’s ratio is 1 terrorist to 1.5 civilians! Read that one more time! Or read the expert on the subject in Newsweek

There are 57 Muslim countries in the world, and just one Jewish one. Jew hatred is real; it has been real for all of history and will be real for the rest of our lives and as long as this earth spins.

Those of us living in America are not on the front lines in Gaza or Lebanon, but I hope we will all use our smarts and dollars to fight this Jew-hatred and this attack on Western values and freedoms — on campuses, through the legal systems, in the media, in businesses. In every way we can, each and every day. Every day is October 8th.

I also hope we will spend the time and dollars to energize young Jews to become Proud Jews. Knowledgeable Jews. Committed Jews. Jews who know who they are, why they are, and what matters. Jews who will have Jewish grandchildren. We haven’t done this well for the last 50 years in America, but it’s not too late to fix this.

VISIT ISRAEL! That is my final plea. Visit Israel! Eat the delicious hummus and pita and eggplant! Enjoy the beautiful weather! Explore the fun neighborhoods of Neve Tzedek and Florentin! Visit Machane Yehuda in the day and night! Come see the National Library and the Israel Museum! Visit the spas and luxurious hotels! It is fun and safe — except maybe look twice when crossing the street!

Israel needs our support now more than ever. This is the rainy day of our lifetime.

Sara Bloom

Vice-Chair, The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life