Prayers and poems in Los Gatos
In a synagogue sanctuary in Los Gatos, a crowd of approximately 300 people sang “Hatikvah” on Sunday night. And while many were singing the Israeli national anthem, which translates to “The Hope,” they were also wiping away tears.
“We might be out of words, but not out of Hope,” Rabbi Nico Socolovsky wrote later on a Facebook post that included a video of the extremely emotional 86 seconds.
Unlike the gathering for Israel in San Francisco earlier that day — at which elected officials gave speeches condemning the attack by Hamas — the South Bay Community Vigil for Israel at Congregation Shir Hadash turned to prayers and poems for community healing.
“It feels like a nightmare but we are awake, and every time we realize it, our hearts break again,” Socolovsky, senior rabbi at Shir Hadash, told those in attendance. “We don’t have many, or any right words, but we can be in community, cry, and hurt together.”
The vigil was co-sponsored by JCRC of Jewish Silicon Valley, Temple Emanu-El in San Jose, Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos, and UnXeptable, a pro-democracy-in-Israel group started locally by Israeli expats. Members of congregations from across the South Bay and Peninsula were invited to attend, as were the nonaffiliated.
All seats in the sanctuary were filled, with dozens more standing in the back or seated in additional chairs brought into the lobby.
There was a minute of silence held for the people who had been killed, and for those taken hostage by Hamas, with participants invited to light candles for them. Prayers were sung in honor of the dead, the captive and the wounded — and for peace in Israel. Throughout the service, friends and family members hugged those who were overcome by tears and sadness. The audience included many Israelis and Israeli Americans.
The South Bay and Peninsula are home to the highest concentration of Israelis in the Bay Area, according to data published in a 2021 study, “A Portrait of Bay Area Jewish Life and Communities,” commissioned and led by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.
This community vigil was meant to be a “a place to come and mourn together, to have an opportunity to process the gravity of what’s happening in Israel, to acknowledge that we’re all going through it in different ways,” Jessica Blitchok, director of JCRC of Jewish Silicon Valley, told J.
Among those on hand was Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
“I think I’m still in shock and grieving. I came here tonight to be with other members of the South Bay Jewish community, to feel the solidarity in being with each other,” Rosen said. “I think we all know that there are long days ahead, and we need to stay together during this.”
Matan Zamir, the deputy consul general at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, briefly addressed the crowd.
“I’m sure, for some of you, it’s been a sleepless, foodless, almost airless 48 hours,” Zamir said, noting that he’d been glued to the news nonstop as he responded to messages coming into the consulate.
Several hours before the vigil, Jewish Silicon Valley opened the auditorium at the Addison-Penzak JCC in Los Gatos for “all community members in need of face-to-face connection and support.” Dubbed “Connection & Support,” the session was to run five hours in the afternoon.
As for the evening event, Etai Beck, an Israeli native who lives in Redwood City, showed up wearing the Israeli flag over his back, tied like a cape. He said his 20-year-old daughter is currently serving as a soldier in the Israeli Air Force.
“Overall, feeling in shock and heartbroken” is how Beck described his emotions.
Having a large Israeli community in the South Bay and on the Peninsula helps, he added.
“This community is many times serving as the connecting bridge between Israel and the Jewish community at large,” he said. “It’s heart moving to see the entire Jewish community coming together and supporting Israel.”
— Emma Goss, J. Staff
Prayers and lamentations in Lafayette
“There are no adequate words for a day like today,” Rabbi Jill Perlman, senior rabbi at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, told those gathered at the Contra Costa County Community Gathering for Israel on Monday night.
“Eicha has been tumbling around in my mind — that ancient word of lamentation meaning how, how did we get here, how can we make sense of these days, and how can we possibly go on?”
Several hundred people came together to hear her words and those of other speakers, and to be among the Jewish community in the wake of the events in Israel. The vigil, which also included songs and prayers, was sponsored by Congregations B’nai Tikvah and B’nai Shalom of Walnut Creek, Beth Emek of Pleasanton and Temple Isaiah.
Extra chairs had to be added to the ends of the pews in the 480-seat sanctuary, as photos of those killed or missing were projected onto screens on either side of the bimah.
The lineup of speakers included three elected officials whose districts cover good portions of Contra Costa County: Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, a member of Congress since 2015, state Sen. Steve Glazer and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. The latter two are Jewish.
Matan Zamir, deputy consul general at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, had to cancel at the last minute, sending a video address instead.
In it, he gave an update on the situation in Israel and said, “It’s good that you’re not spending these terrible hours at your homes with the TV, phone and radio all on, but hugging each other and sitting together and sensing each other’s energy. We need to be with one another.”
A teary Noga Ben Shimol also spoke, noting that this was not the way she expected to introduce herself to the community. The Israeli arrived in the Bay Area two months ago to participate in the ShinShinim program of the Jewish Agency for Israel, in which new high school graduates do 10 months of service in Jewish communities abroad, allowing them to delay their mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces.
Ben Shimol is from Moshav Netiv HaAsara on Israel’s border with north Gaza — a community of approximately 900 people that has confirmed 15 people dead in the attacks, and she knew of one person still missing.
After sharing a few horrific anecdotes from loved ones, she said, “I left a strong, great community behind to give to another great community. But now I need to ask you to please do what you can. We need to fight for the ones who are still alive.”
— Alix Wall, Correspondent