AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday, does not always fall on Oct. 7. The Jewish calendar does not coincide with the one we all use day-to-day.
For Rabbi Neil Blumofe of Congregation Agudas Achim, Oct. 7 once went hand-in-hand with happiness.
"It's supposed to be a very joyous time. It's called Simchat Torah, and it's a time when we dance with Torah," Blumofe said.
But it is a day now turned upside down, a year after Hamas launched attacks on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and kidnapping hundreds of civilians.
Central Texans like Nora Lieberman are still sitting in that heaviness.
"We're all thinking about the tragedy, and it hits us, hits so many of us, in such a difficult place," Lieberman said. "Babies were taken, families were taken, elderly were taken."
Emotions ran high for the hundreds of attendees at a community memorial ceremony at Congregation Agudas Achim, with speakers reflecting on the lives lost and the lives still held hostage by Hamas.
"We've known many people who have their lives at risk, in defense of the state of Israel. Many of my community members are personally connected. We, in this community, adopted two twins who were abducted on Oct. 7," Blumofe said.
With a shadow now cast over the holiday, Blumofe sees an opportunity to seek unity and help community members come out of the darkness in search of the light.
"I'm willing to recognize what someone else's pain is as long as they perhaps recognize my own, and we can encounter very difficult, turbulent times together," Blumofe said. "The theme of the Nova Music Festival, where so many young people were killed, is that they will dance again. And we're trying to figure out how to do that here in Austin as well."
Gov. Greg Abbott also recognized the seven Americans still held hostage by Hamas by reading their names aloud at a ceremony earlier on Monday in Austin.
