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NEW YORK CITY (RNS)– Hundreds of Jewish New Yorkers marked Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, on Monday (Sept. 21) with a grieving routine memorializing Palestinians eliminated in the Israel-Hamas war. A couple of days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremely prepared for check out for the U.N. General Assembly, the event likewise served to knock how the Israeli federal government has actually managed the war.
Brad Lander, a New York Democratic candidate for Congress, who is Jewish, attended to the crowd collected at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza by knocking Netanyahu’s check out and what he referred to as a “genocide” taking place in Gaza.
He stated he came from a group of Jews “who state no to ethnic cleaning, who state no to human-made scarcity, who state no to making use of U.S. tax dollars to bomb whole households, who state no to war lawbreakers in our city this holy week or any week.”
In the city that’s home to the biggest Jewish population in the U.S., Netanyahu’s see has actually triggered divides– specifically after Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a strong Israel critic, in July reignited the dispute over Netanyahu’s see to the U.S. regardless of the International Criminal Court’s efforts to detain him for what it considered were war criminal activities dedicated in Gaza. The mayor called Netanyahu a “war criminal” however backtracked on his project pledge of detaining him, mentioning the city’s absence of legal authority– which Netanyahu dismissed as remarks “fomenting hate” and sustaining antisemitism.
Netanyahu’s go to is anticipated to trigger a variety of demonstrations, which the mayor motivated New Yorkers to take part in over the summer season. According to The Forward, recently he stated he “never ever motivated them to oppose,” however stated they “can do so in the city.” Recently, a group of Modern Orthodox Jewish teenagers opposed the mayor’s position on Israel in front of the mayor’s home at Gracie Mansion. Showcasing their assistance for the Jewish state, the teenagers hoped with tefillin, the black leather threads connected to boxes consisting of Torah verses used by watchful Jewish males throughout prayers.
Now in its 3rd year, the general public remembrance service has actually ended up being an area for Jewish New Yorkers opposed to the war in Gaza to voice their criticism and lament the destruction brought on by the dispute. It was arranged by Jews For Racial & & Economic Justice, a left-wing Jewish company of which Lander is a member, and Rabbis for Ceasefire, a cumulative of 80 Jewish faith leaders requiring an end to the war. The presentation was co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow and the American Council for Judaism.
Individuals go to a Yom Kippur service at Grand Army Plaza, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, in Brooklyn, N.Y. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2025, informed the crowd that repentance is challenging when”our tax dollars, our votes are being utilized to eliminate, to impair, to displace Palestinians, to displace Lebanese, to bomb Iranians and simply actually to forget that we are all human beings.”
A Columbia University graduate, Khalil was apprehended after his permit was withdrawed over his function in the pro-Palestinian encampments that took control of the New York school in 2024. Now dealing with deportation, Khalil is taking legal action against the Trump administration and Columbia.
Monday’s event followed the actions of a standard Yizkor routine, or a Jewish memorial prayer service carried out for the deceased. The memorial prayer service is normally recited throughout Yom Kippur, which began at sundown on Sunday and will end Monday night. Led by Rabbi Ellen Lippmann and Rabbi Sam Kates-Goldman of Kolot Chayeinu, a progressive Jewish churchgoers in Brooklyn, the service included prayers, chants and a calling of the names of Palestinians eliminated in Gaza.
In the crowd, guests used white T-shirts to represent their sorrow, and some likewise brought keffiyeh, a conventional Palestinian headscarf seen by some as a sign of Palestinian resistance. In front of the phase, where an arch reading “Refuse, Remember, Recommit” stood, organizers held an orange banner reading “Not another bomb.”
The group carried out a Kriah routine, an action of the Jewish burial procedure that includes shredding a piece of garment or material to reveal sorrow and anger at the loss of a life. Guests held a long banner of white shroud that they tore before connecting the pieces to their chests.
Rabbi Abby Stein of Kolot Chayeinu led the crowd in prayers. “Let us make a brand-new dedication. Let our sorrow not fail. … Let this numeration alter our actions for the sake of repair work,” she stated, before calling the crowd to dedicate to “boycott, demonstration, march, arrange, lobby and vote in the name of life.” Stein, who is likewise an activist for trans rights, advised participants to oppose U.S. military help to Israel and supporter for a “irreversible, genuine ceasefire.”
According to Pew Research Center, 42% of Jewish Americans under age 35 state they think Israel’s method of performing the war has actually been inappropriate, yet 68% of Jews 50 and older believe Israel’s conduct has actually been appropriate, indicating a generational divide.
As they closed the event, participants strolled in procession to Grand Army Plaza’s Bailey Fountain, where they attached memorial cards with the names of Palestinians eliminated in the war to the limestones. More than 73,377 Palestinians have actually been eliminated in the war since last month, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The occasion likewise drew Democratic candidates for New York state federal government, consisting of pro-Palestinian activist Aber Kawas, who is running for state Senate. Other guests consisted of New York City Council members Shahana Hanif and Alexa Avilés, both who represent parts of Brooklyn; and Diana Moreno, who took control of Mamdani’s previous New York State Assembly seat with his recommendation.
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