Overview

• Rosh Hashanah began at sundown Monday, starting the 10 days of reflection that conclude with Yom Kippur on the evening of Oct. 1.
• Synagogues and campus Hillels report strong turnout and a renewed drive for community, with Boston‑area students and Southern California congregations highlighting connection and ritual.
• Rabbinic messages vary widely, from calls for resilience against antisemitism at a Chabad center in Georgia to progressive sermons in Los Angeles on a “spiritual catastrophe,” with a Queens rabbi planning to label Gaza a “genocide” in a Yom Kippur address.
• Some clergy describe a chilling effect on what they feel safe to say from the pulpit, citing recent media flare‑ups as they weigh pastoral care against frank speech.
• Polling reported by Pew shows sharp generational gaps among American Jews on Israel’s military response, with younger adults more likely to view it as unacceptable.