* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
On Yom Kippur, we were at Kibbutz Gevim, next to Sderot on the Gaza envelope. In dozens of moshavim and kibbutzim, new synagogues are currently being established, and the same is happening there.
Before Yom Kippur, people at the kibbutz excitedly told us about the new synagogue, named in memory of kibbutz member Shlomi Davidovich, may God avenge his blood, who fell on October 7th. We were sure we would pray there.
But in practice, our hosts led us to the library. "The synagogue is too small for Yom Kippur," they explained to us. "We need a larger space." They were right. About 150 people arrived for the Kol Nidrei and Ne'ilah prayers, and it was crowded even there.
Next to me in the women's section stood Ofra Davidovich, Shlomi's widow, with her daughters. Ofra looked with pride at her son, Be'eri, who had just celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and was fasting for the first time.
"They hurt us because we are Jewish, so we will be even more Jewish," she told me. "I look around and I know: Shlomi is proud of us."
Thank you to the kibbutz and the Ayelet HaShachar organization for a special 24 hours in a special place. May the prayers of everyone there and everywhere be accepted. And this sounds like a beautiful blessing for the renewing Jewish world: that our synagogues will become too small for us—out of sheer love...
