That Pain You're Feeling Is Peoplehood

Key Findings:

Author and congregation leader of The Downtown Minyan in New York City Mijal Bitton recounts her experience of learning of the October 7th massacre, and sends an inspiring and insightful message to the Jewish people. 

Bitton quotes Jewish thinkers such as Maimonides, The Rav, and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and  references the biblical story of the war against Amalek in the book of Exodus. All references chosen by Bitton point to emphasize one of the most prevalent aspects of the Jewish experience– peoplehood. 

The author discusses this Jewish centric concept of peoplehood as it relates to pain inside the Jewish community, and how that pain can inspire and transform when there is unity in the darkest of times. With the concern that the Jewish people are growing further apart from one another in the times of the diaspora, the true test of unity and enduring peoplehood is the ability to share in one another's pain. The terror attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7th proved that the peoplehood, and thus, the unity, amongst the Jewish nation still endures. 

“The most important weapon at our disposal, the one we have to nourish and insist upon, is peoplehood — feeling and behaving as one being.”

In the trying time of the aftermath of October 7th, Bitton encourages the Jewish community to remember the significance and purpose of their shared pain. When there is the ability to unite as one, a profound opportunity for support and strength reveals itself, both individually and collectively.