As the Jewish community in Wheeling celebrates the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur in October, the current conflict in their Holy Land and the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. looms in many of their minds.

Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom in Wheeling said Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur provide an opportunity for the Jewish community to reflect on the past year, which he noted has been “very difficult.”

The New Year in Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, occurred this week, Wednesday through Friday. Yom Kippur celebrations will follow 10 days later. The 10 days between the two holidays serve as a time of repentance within the Jewish faith.

Rosh Hashanah, which translates to “head of the year,” is celebrated in the fall since the season is a ‘”time of transition,” according to Lief.

“In the fall, you’re leaving behind the vibrancy of summer, and you’re not quite at the bleakness of winter,” Lief said. “Everything sort of hands in the balance. That’s the imagery we think about as the year draws to the close and we begin to face the uncertainty of the year ahead.”

Apart from uncertainty, the Jewish New Year represents a time of “hope and possibility,” according to Lief, who noted that the aspirations for the new year are “yet to be realized and yet to be fulfilled.”

While Rosh Hashanah celebrates the transition into a new year, Lief noted that the holiday also provides the opportunity to look back at the past year. Reflecting on one’s character in the previous year leads into Yom Kippur, which means “The Day of Atonement.”

Yom Kippur will be celebrated from the evening of Oct. 11 through Oct. 12.

Lief described the holiday as a time when Jewish people “ask for forgiveness” for anything they’ve done wrong in the past year while also allowing them to “resolve to try and do better in the New Year underway.”

“Historically and theologically, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are linked,” Lief said. “There’s a suggestion that the book of life is opened on Rosh Hashanah, and you look back at everything you’ve done and decisions are made for the new year, perhaps by God, perhaps by us. The verdict of what the new year will be is sealed on Yom Kippur.”

While the synagogue will see more visitors during the holidays, which Lief compared to the increased crowds at Christian masses during Christmas and Easter, he stressed the holidays serve as a time of “internal reflection and judging” beyond Sabbath services.

“All too infrequently do we bother to take the time to look inward,” Lief said. “It’s uncomfortable to do self-evaluation. The High Holy Days exist as an invitation for us to take a time out from the normal flow of life and to think about higher-level concerns that we may have pushed to the side for far too long.”

With increased internal reflection during the holidays, Lief said the period serves as a time of “enhanced spiritual thoughtfulness” for the local Jewish community and Jews worldwide. He noted the current conflict in the Jewish holy land of the Israel-Hamas war weighs “heavy on the minds” of all who celebrate the holidays.

The first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants on Israel’s Southern District that began the war will fall during the time of reflection between the holidays. Lief noted more than 100 Israelis are still held hostage by Hamas today.

The conflict escalated this week with Iran’s missile attack against Israel on Tuesday night in retaliation for the killing of militant leaders allied to Tehran.

“It’s pretty hard to say this past year has been a good one,” Lief said. “In many individual ways, the year has been good, but collectively, it’s been a very difficult year, and I’m certainly hopeful that the new year will be better.”

The holidays also fall near the sixth anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, an antisemitic terrorist attack that took place on Oct. 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Eleven worshippers were shot and killed during the attack.

Lief drew a parallel between the synagogue shooting and an overall “dramatic rise” in anti-semitism in America. He noted a recent incident last week at the University of Pittsburgh where a Jewish student was allegedly attacked because he was wearing a Star of David necklace.

“Some folks wanted to make a point that they disliked Israel’s policies in the prosecution of the war and decided to beat a Jewish kid on the street,” Lief said. “I think it’s hard to argue that violence against Jews is somehow legitimate political discourse about what you think is going on in the Middle East.”

In contrast to the violence springing up abroad and in nearby cities, Lief stressed a need for the wider Wheeling community to begin to reach across the aisle and help each other.

“As a community, we need to do a better job of solving the challenges that lie before us and caring for the needs of all our neighbors, not just the ones we already know,” Lief said. “If we wish for a better tomorrow, we have to start making it so today.”

While the victims of terrorist attacks in Israel and antisemitic violence in the U.S. will stay in the prayers of the local Jewish community, Lief encouraged the greater Wheeling community to reflect on how they can make positive changes in the world around them as well.

“If you don’t like what’s written on the page, you have no one to blame except yourself,” Lief said. “If you’d like something better to be written, you get to do the writing.”