These Jewish teens in Miami are striking a defiant tone in a High Holiday season haunted by Oct. 7

(JTA) — During this High Holiday season, Jack Brod, 16, a student at the Miami Country Day School, wears yellow pins to school to show solidarity with Israeli hostages. He is careful about where he goes with the pin on, but says it’s important for him to showcase his identity this way during a season that includes Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins Friday at sundown. 

Brod is making an effort to take the fall holidays seriously this year. “Given the events of Oct. 7, I understand just how lucky I am to be Jewish and for the support system that I have behind me,” Brod said. “Everything just needs to be celebrated in enjoyment, not in fear.” 

The year sincethe Hamas attacks on southern Israel has been fraught for Jewish teens outside of Israel. Pro-Palestinian protests, widespread on college campuses, have also been held at high schools. Reports of antisemitism are up, and social media has become a battleground for teens on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian debate and the early war in Gaza and now southern Lebanon. Many Jewish teens hesitate before wearing kippahs, Stars of David and other signs of their Jewish identity on the street.

Marking the high holy days

Despite the pressures, young Jews in the Miami area are using pins, prayers, performances and protests during the High Holidays to mark the one-year anniversary. Many are dedicating their energies to hoping for a safe return of the more than 100 still held hostage and hoping for peace during the High Holiday season that began with Rosh Hashanah on Oct. 2, and, for many Jews, climaxes with Simchat Torah on Oct. 25.  

Shira Sager, a sophomore at Scheck Hillel Community School, finds incorporating prayer into her daily routine a comfort since Oct. 7, especially during the holidays. “At least in tefilah [prayer], in school, or at my house, I try to incorporate Tehillim [Psalms] or other things to pray for the hostages and the soldiers,” she said. 

Some psalms, especially Psalm 27, are recited regularly in the month before the holidays, as spiritual preparation. Some synagogues have added a regular recitation of Psalm 121 (“I turn my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come?”) as a response to the turmoil in Israel. Other psalms have been emphasized in support of hostages and the Israeli military. 

This holiday season, Sager plans to celebrate at home with her parents in Oak Hammock  about 30 minutes south of Miami. Her father served in the Israeli military in the 1990s as a lone soldier — an immigrant from abroad without family in Israel. Seeing her father, once a soldier, have to imagine what others like himself are going through on the front lines has made Sager emotional this past year.

The war won’t be far from Gabriella Gorin’s mind while she’s with her Conservative Jewish family. “We’ll end up thinking a lot about this event during the High Holidays,” Gorin, 16, said. She’s received pushback from others about her support of Israel but the Scheck Hillel student is focused on keeping her head high during the holidays. “Being a proud Jew is the most important thing,” she said.

Ilanit Behar, 20, who lives in Bay Harbor, was in Israel at the time of the attacks as a seminary student, and her memories of that frightening time make this anniversary difficult for her.

“We’re just keeping them [the people of Israel] in mind so that in that merit, they should be saved, especially in the High Holidays,” said Behar. “There’s just a heaviness in the air, but we’re all still trying to fight and be positive, even through these hard times.”

The weight of the war is pushing Julia Jerusalmi to the stage this month. The 15-year-old danced at Michael-Ann Russel Jewish Community Center in Miami in honor of hundreds of young Israeli party-goers at the Nova Musical festival killed on Oct. 7. Even now, one year later, she still finds it hard to process the traumatized state the victims were left in after the attacks.

The performance, titled “Before & After,” took place on Oct. 7 with relatives of hostages and Israel Defense Force soldiers present. “Being part of the show helped me feel more attached to the date of Oct. 7, 2023, and have a sense of feeling of what happened on that day,” said Jerusalmi, who described her experience as a “symbolic” way to connect to both Oct. 7 and the High Holidays due to the coinciding of the two events. 

For some Jewish teens, the holidays represent an opportunity to be heard. Maayan Lugassy, 15, an Israeli-American from Davie, Florida is looking out for opportunities to stand up against antisemitism this holiday season. She’s been on the lookout for antisemitism on social media and seeks out information directly from the Israeli state.

“I definitely want to protest if there are any protests, but also keep the hostages and the soldiers in mind and pray for them at all costs,” she said. 

For Emma Hadani, 14, honoring the anniversary is a daily occurrence. She said her Israeli-American family makes a point to always honor the massacre’s victims, regardless of the circumstances. Hadani said she is lucky she is to live in Jewish Miami, unlike her friends in Chicago who have said they have been experiencing discrimination, which has upset her tremendously this past year.

“You know how it is during these holidays,” she said. “It’s our job as Jews not to make a good image, but to support each other and be together.”