26 Dec AN OCTOBER 8TH JUDAISM

Our shul recently
hosted Bret Stephens,

the Pulitzer Prize-
winning journalist and

foreign affairs expert.
In his talk, he
referenced a column he
wrote for the New York
Times reflecting on the atrocity of October
7th titled, “For America’s Jews, Every Day
Must Be Oct. 8.”
He opens:
There used to be a sign (which, for all I
know, is still there) somewhere in the
C.I.A.’s headquarters that read, “Every
day is Sept. 12.” It was placed there to
remind the agency’s staffers that what they
felt right after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001
— the sense of outrage and purpose, of
favoring initiative over caution, of taking

nothing for granted — had to be the mind-
set with which they arrived to work every

day.
There ought to be a similar sign in every
Jewish organization, synagogue and day
school, and on the desks of anyone —
Jewish or not — for whom the security and
well-being of the Jews is a sacred calling:
“Every day is Oct. 8.”

Stephens goes on to share several important
and insightful takeaways of how we must
forever be different since the horrific and
barbaric pogroms, the likes of which we
haven’t seen since the Holocaust. One of the
key ones: “On Oct. 8, Jews woke up to
discover who our friends are not.” Stephens
continues to enumerate the “friends,”
institutions of “prestige” and movements that
abandoned us, betrayed us, and with whom
we should no longer feel aligned or seek the
approval of.
He concludes: “More than 3,800 years of
Jewish history keeps yielding the same
bracing lesson: In the long run, we’re alone.
What can Oct. 8 Jews do? We can stop being
embarrassed, equivocal or defensive about
Zionism, which is, after all, one of the world’s
most successful movements of national
liberation… Jewish America abounds with
dreamers and entrepreneurs who took crazy
risks in their careers to find value and create
things that never existed before. It’s time they
apply the same talent and energy to creating
new institutions that hew to genuinely liberal
values, where Jews need never be afraid. In
time, the rest of America may follow.”
Bret Stephens is a proud Jew and supporter
of Israel, a brilliant and insightful
commentator, and his speech at BRS and his

column calling for us to be October 8th Jews
is a powerful and important framing.
However, I believe there is more for the
October 8th Jew, a different change without
with we cannot hope to defeat our enemies,
and without which we cannot survive or
thrive.
The October 8th Jew must not only lean in
to their unapologetic Zionism but must
embrace, live, and promote unapologetic
Judaism, Yiddishkeit, and Torah. The
October 8th Jew must find his or her voice,
not only the voice and vocabulary to lobby,
advocate, rally and fight for the rights of the
Jewish state and the Jewish people. The
October 8th Jew must find his or her distinctly
Jewish voice, a voice informed and inspired
by our sacred Torah. We must raise our
voices of prayer and voices of study, our
voices of Jewish unity and our voices of
Torah justice and truth.
When Yaakov presents himself to his father
Yitzchak to seize the blessings from his
brother Esav, he disguises his hands but not
his voice. Troubled by the incongruity,
Yitzchak wonders aloud, “Ha’kol kol Yaakov,
v’hayadayim y’dei Esav, the voice is the
voice of Yaakov, but the hands feel like the
hands of Esav.” Noting the anomaly, that the
voice of Yaakov is simiply incompatible with
the hands of Esav, our rabbis conclude
(Bereishis Rabba 63:20):
הַקֹּל קֹול י ַעֲקֹב-, בִּזְמַן שֶׁ ּקֹולֹו שֶׁ ל- י ַעֲקֹב
מָצּוי בְּבָתֵּי- כְנֵסִּיֹות אֵין הַי ָּדַי ִם- י ְדֵי עֵשָׂו,
ו ְאִם- לָאו, הַי ָּדַי ִם י ְדֵי- עֵשָׂו, אַתֶּם י ְכֹולִים-
.לָהֶם
“The voice is the voice of Jacob” –
when the voice of Jacob is found in the
synagogues, the hands are not the hands
of Esau, but if not, “the hands are the
hands of Esau.”
Antisemites and our enemies thrive
when we are assimilated, apologetic,
defensive, embarrassed, or afraid about
our Jewish identity and Jewish values.
When we lower the volume on our
Jewish voices, they are empowered to
raise their hands against us and pounce.
The October 8th Jew must confront
these enemies, sometimes on the
battlefield, other times at congressional
hearings, other times in the courtroom.
But the October 8th Jew must also
confront himself and herself, confront
their Jewish passion, Jewish pride, and
Jewish practice.
In his short but extremely powerful
book, The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
talks about resistance, the force that
holds us back form fulfilling our dreams
and potential. He describes the dangers
and the methodology of resistance and
ultimately offers a strategy for how to
overcome it. He writes:
Aspiring artists defeated by Resistance

share one trait. They all think like amateurs.
They have not yet turned pro.
The moment an artist turns pro is as epochal
as the birth of his first child. With one stroke,
everything changes. I can state absolutely
that the term of my life can be divided into
two parts: before turning pro, and after.
To be clear: When I say professional, I don’t
mean doctors and lawyers, those of “the
professions.” I mean the Professional as an
ideal. The professional in contract to the
amateur. Considers the differences.
The amateur plays for fun. The professional
plays for keeps. To the amateur, the game is
his avocation. To the pro it’s his vocation.
The amateur plays part-time, the professional
full-time. The amateur is a weekend warrior.
The professional is there seven days a week.
The word amateur comes from the Latin
root meaning “to love.” The conventional
interpretation is that the amateur pursues his
calling out of love, while the pro does it for
money. Not the way I see it. In my view, the
amateur does not love the game enough. If
he did, he would not pursue it as a sideline,
distinct from his “real” vocation.
The professional loves it so much, he
dedicates his life to it. He commits full-time.
That’s what I mean when I say turning pro.
Resistance hates it when we turn pro.
Yes, the October 8th Jew must know who
are not among our friends. As Bret Stephens
convincingly argues, the October 8th Jew
must be ready to build our own institutions
that conform to our values. But most
importantly, the October 8th Jew must be
ready to take their Judaism pro. From the
observant to the unaffiliated, we cannot
continue with our Judaism as usual, we
cannot be amateurs with a casual attitude,
lukewarm Jewish practices, impassive Jewish
experiences and lives. Our Judaism must not
be observed only on the weekends and
holidays but must be there seven days a
week. Our study and prayers must not be
avocations but vocations. We must love our
Judaism, the Torah and Hashem so much we
are ready to dedicate our lives.
On billboards, bumper stickers, and the
sides of busses all over Israel is the motto –
Am ha’netzach y’nateiach, the people of
eternity will prevail. If we want to prevail,
we must ensure that the October 8th Jew is
practicing a Judaism of eternity.