The Jewish day of atonement, Yom Kippur, is one of only two Jewish holidays I celebrate. In spite of its solemnity, it is my favorite holiday. On this one day of disconnection from the noise of daily life and of quiet contemplation, Jews fast for 24 hours, don't do any sort of work, don't turn on any electrical appliances, don't drive, reflect on their behavior of the past year and ask for forgiveness of their sins.

Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are being bombed, sniped, starved, sickened, and exhausted to death. There is about to be a targeted massacre in Rafah which the world awaits with dread. Since journalists have not been allowed in Gaza, we don't even know the true scale or most of the details of the self-proclaimed "Jewish State"'s genocide of the Palestinians since October 7th.

Yom Kippur is over 6 months away but I am already thinking about it. I am wondering how I and my fellow Jews will reflect on the genocide that is being committed in our name. I am wondering how we will cleanse our religion, our identities, our souls of the obscene mass torture and murder that are gleefully branded with the Star of David. It feels like a gang of sadistic psychopaths, members of our tribe, have smeared us all with shit. I feel sickened to have been born a Jew. I feel ashamed to belong to this group in which there are some good people who are doing the right thing and opposing this evil, but most are not.

I feel like every day is Yom Kippur. It seems like every day we should be atoning; even those of us who are not guilty of committing, supporting or excusing genocide, because we are unable to stop it. Other than continuing to shout out against these crimes, it seems that atoning for the sins of our tribe -- a tribe which I never felt a strong connection to in the first place, but now feel forever tied to because of the unfathomable crimes that have been committed in my name -- is the only thing we can do.