Portland-area Jews’ views differ as Oct 7 anniversary arrives

One day before the one-year anniversary of the attack by Hamas inside Israel, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland held an event as a time of remembrance and tribute to those who died that day.

More than 100 people gathered at Congregation Neveh Shalom for the early Sunday evening service.

“This is a gathering for our community,” said Bob Horentein, the Jewish Federation’s chief community relations and public affairs officer.

There were prayers for those lost, he said, “and we also have a survivor of the kibbutz that was attacked on October 7. He’s a singer so he will be telling his story and he will be singing.”

Horentein, whose wife is from Israel, said that what happens in Israel impacts the community here.

“This last year has been very challenging. There are people in our community who have been traumatized. You noticed the kind of security we had for this event. There’s been a rise in antisemitism locally and this vile anti-Israel hatred. And that’s impacting us locally even though we’re 10,000 miles away from the center of this conflict.”

He said he understands why some people question Israel’s continued action.

“Hopefully they understand that Israel had to respond” to the murder of 1200 Israelis. “Israel is having to fight a war against a terrorist organization that is embedded in a civilian population.

Horentein said it’s a “complicated situation” and a “tragedy when any innocent is killed.” But it will be some time yet before there is any kind of “coexistence.”

‘Tashlich, atoning for transgressions’

Sunday afternoon, about 125 people gathered at Salmon Springs in downtown Portland for an event organized by Jewish Voice for Peace . The event, said the group’s Kasey Brenner, focused on the high Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The concept of tashlich, she said, is to cast off transgressions over the past year, enter the new year cleansed and prepared. They chose this day, October 6, to atone for what’s happening in Israel and the American complicity in the conflict.

“As an American Jew I can only feel I have some responsibility in the arming of Israeli military and the genocide that is happening. This is part of our atonement and our demand for a cease fire and for the US to stop funding the destruction of Gaza,” Brenner told KOIN 6 News.

The majority of those who attended the Sunday event agree with her position.

“I think as Jews it is important for us to stand up because I think anytime there’s any criticism of Israel or Israeli policies, the charge of antisemitism is laid at our feet,” she said. “I’m very proud to be a Jew. I am a Jew. And I think Jewish Voice for Peace and all of us there feel very strongly that we stand up against the genocide as Jews.”

But, she said, it’s unclear whether this is a truly growing sentiment among American Jews or if it’s still a subset of thought.

“I think it’s growing across the American people in general,” she said. “I think young people, especially, are very much against the war. Students are very much against the war.”

Jewish Voice for Peace, which joined a national call for Oregon to divest from Israeli bonds , has no events planned for October 7, she said.