Rally In Solidarity With Israel Draws Crowd On LI: 'No One Is Alone'

EAST HAMPTON, NY — Eyes red with tears, arms wrapped tightly around one another, a steady flow of hundreds filed into the Jewish Center of the Hamptons Wednesday for a "Rally in Solidarity with Israel" that comforted broken hearts with prayer and psalms.

The death toll continues to rise and the hatred and horror, to unfold, after a Hamas attack in Israel sparked war and a massacre that has led to heinous acts of evil.

At the rally, young and old alike, even infants in strollers, gathered as rabbis from across the East End joined together to send a message of hope even in the darkest of times. As they have for generations, facing the weight of oppression and the most violent of foes, they joined hands and hearts in prayer, song — and a steadfast faith that has long been a beacon of hope and strength.

Rabbi Josh Franklin of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons led the ceremony with an introduction, and Cantor Debra Stein, Rabbi of the Center, also led prayers.

"Join the entire Jewish community of the East End for a rally in solidarity with Israel," an announcement for the event read. "We will mourn for the victims who have lost their lives and pray for the safety of Israel and her citizens."

The group gathered "to hear words of strength and love, and to comfort one another," the announcement read.

Members of Temple Adas Israel, The Hampton Synagogue, and Gesher|The Bridge Shul joined with the Jewish Center of the Hamptons for the rally.

Rabbi Jan Uhrbach of the Bridge Shul read Psalm 142. Before the reading, she told the crowd — so many attended that an overflow room was set up downstairs with the service streamed on a large screen —that for years, Jewish people have read the Psalms as a "way of calling out to God" in painful times. "Prayer matters," she said.

The Psalms, she said, are not only about seeking help from God during troubled times, pleading and lamenting. "It's for us, too," she said. "What we are experiencing now is trauma. We need to words to express what we feel. We need to feel held and known and not judged if we're not handling it well, if we are worried about ourselves, or feel angry — or want vengeance."

For centuries, the Psalms have expressed the full range of human emotions, from joy to fury, horror and outrage and violence, she said. "Nothing is unacceptable to feel and lay before God," she said. "It's all there in the Psalms."

And, she said, while the atrocities taking place are unthinkable, they are not new. Jewish people, she said, have long faced the unimaginable, tribulations and hatred — but have never wavered in their fortitude and faith. "We have endured. Survived. Thrived," she said. "This isn't some unprecedented event that we haven't seen before. We've been here before — and we survived. There are things we can do. And, no one is alone."

Rabbi Avraham Bronstein of the Hampton Synagogue also spoke. Despite some who have said there is a growing disconnect between the American and Israeli Jewish communities, he said, "All that may still be true, but just look around here. And nut just here this evening. Across America. Across the Jewish world. It's more than just support."

He added: "It's more than national solidarity. This moment is really about empathy."

Empathy, he said, could well be the very foundation of Jewish survival, the wellspring of Jewish resilience, in the face of the many centuries of persecution and oppression. "And the empathy and the heart of our feeling of community of deep and meaningful connection of ourselves to others could well be the catalyst for Jewish success, Jewish achievement throughout the centuries. Because empathy is more than just that feeling that compels us to help when we see others in distress, as so many are across the Jewish world and beyond. . . Empathy is the recognition is that when we see others in distress, we are also in distress."

That's what compels people to gather in solidarity, he said.

That's why the Hampton Synagogue shares prayer videos on social media.

"In this moment, we feel the need to touch as many people, feel as much connection, as we can," he said.

The empathy and solidarity felt for brothers and sisters in Israel only reinforces "the shock and the horror that we feel towards those that simply don't see Israelis, simply don't see Jews, as human beings. Our empathy defines us. Their lack of empathy defines them."

Rabbi Dan Geffen of Temple Adas Israel spoke of hope.

He discussed the song "Lu Yehi," or "Let it Be," an anthem for soldiers in past years. "Hope isn't always what we think it is," he said. "It's not a blind wish, but rather, a seed planted in hearts that reminds us, we are not alone in our grief — or in our wishes for a different reality."

He urged those present to "sing with your heart — and let us shed tears of hope."

Those who gathered said they were grateful for the chance to rally together. "Thank you to the Jewish Center of The Hamptons for bringing us together to pray together and mourn together as a community," said Elyse Richman.