Out of all biblical holidays Rosh ha-Shana may be the strangest one. It does not belong to the category of shalosh regalim, three pilgrimage holidays, when we are specifically commanded by Gd to commemorate the agricultural and spiritual milestones of the year by going to Jerusalem Temple:

שָׁלֹ֣שׁ רְגָלִ֔ים תָּחֹ֥ג לִ֖י בַּשָּׁנָֽה׃

Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me

Nor it is the great and awesome Day of Atonement which is explicitly commanded to be observed in a prescribed manner in the Torah:

אַ֡ךְ בֶּעָשׂ֣וֹר לַחֹ֩דֶשׁ֩ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֨י הַזֶּ֜ה י֧וֹם הַכִּפֻּרִ֣ים ה֗וּא מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם אֶת־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֥ם אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיהֹוָֽה׃

Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month as the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD.

Rosh HaShana is mentioned as if in passing, given no name: 

דַּבֵּ֛ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ יִהְיֶ֤ה לָכֶם֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן זִכְר֥וֹן תְּרוּעָ֖ה מִקְרָא־קֹֽדֶשׁ׃

Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.

We are not told what this  ‘sacred occasion’ is. Our tradition tells us that this is the day of introspection and self reflection, the day to examine one’s actions and even thoughts. This is the day to firmly decide that the deeds that were less than perfect we are not going to repeat, the good deeds we should multiply, and even the not-so-nice thoughts that we may have had during the year, we should banish forever. The day to look back and remember.
This is also the day to assess everything that happened to us last year. Many people cry during the services in the synagogue. These cries multiplied during the years after the global pandemic. Everyone thought of people they loved, knew, or just heard of.

How are we going to survive our national Day of Remembrance this coming Rosh HaShana? I can picture this Awesome Day in the community I am always praying on that day. I can hear cries, I can feel my own tears swelling.
We are, no doubt, going to ask The Almighty for life, health, prosperity. But mostly we are going to cry. Cry not only for the lives lost in the most brutal manner on October 7th, 2023, but the fact that we, altogether allowed this to happen.

If Jewish history teaches us anything, it should teach us that we must stop stepping on the same rake, and start talking to each other instead of burning the proverbial storehouses of the Beit HaMikdash. 

Yet, we do not learn. For at least a year, the Jewish nation not only in Israel, but in the Diaspora was busy blaming each other, arguing about the Reform, Bibi – anyone but Bibi, haredi – secular divides deepening, opening the very earth under our feet. Words like “hate them”, “may they burn”, “parasites”, “goim” were thrown around freely by one Jew against another. Meanwhile, our enemies were listening very attentively. 

For now over 2000 years Jews have been arguing with each other.
When the idea of Zionism, a movement for the re-establishment and and protection of a Jewish nation in The State of Israel, the national home of the Jews, somehow brought together most of the different fractions of the Jewish polity, the word “Zionism” meant precisely that – re-establishment of the state that existed in this land since the times of Shaul, the first king of the Jews almost 3000 years ago.
When that state was destroyed, the prophets calling for faith in “return to Zion”, both of the people, and of Gd Gdself:

עוּרִ֥י עוּרִ֛י לִבְשִׁ֥י עֻזֵּ֖ךְ צִיּ֑וֹן לִבְשִׁ֣י ׀ בִּגְדֵ֣י תִפְאַרְתֵּ֗ךְ יְרֽוּשָׁלַ֙͏ִם֙ עִ֣יר הַקֹּ֔דֶשׁ כִּ֣י לֹ֥א יוֹסִ֛יף יָבֹא־בָ֥ךְ ע֖וֹד עָרֵ֥ל וְטָמֵֽא

Awake, awake, O Zion! Clothe yourself in splendor; Put on your robes of majesty, Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall never enter you again (Isaah 52:1)

Zion, was a place where all of the Jews were turning their eyes to during those long years in exile. 
Today, this word somehow became a curse among many. 

Last year, just before the horrendous attack on Israelis, Gil Troy, the famous writer and scholar on Zionism, proposed additional simanim in honor of our ability to sit down and talk despite all our differences:

• Oranges, so that, in the spirit of the President’s Medals – and the presidential compromise on judicial reform we desperately hope both sides adopt – we appreciate all the sweetness around us, despite occasional pits. 
• Passion fruit, to celebrate our distinct personalities and communities swirling around from within, held together by an outer shell of shared values and patriotism.
• Grapes (anavim in Hebrew), in the tradition of symbols based on puns, let us, with enough anava (humility) shrink the grapes of wrath poisoning Israeli discourse.
• Onions, to learn to see the different layers in our opponents’ arguments, even if we disagree.
• Lemons, to honor the Zionist Jew-jitsu, turning lemons into lemonade.
• Sabras, so that we may be prickly toward our enemies on the outside, but sweet to one another on the inside.
• Cherry tomatoes, genetically engineered in the Start-up Nation. Most of the people who stay in Israel do so because we love the cherry tomatoes, the Jewish holidays celebrated nationally, the vibe in the streets, and the communities we develop. (https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-758716)

This year, it seems we have no choice, but to heed this advice. While we cry, promise, and hope, let us bring all of the Jewish nation together, to share our hope in our cries and to sincerely promise that we will start listening to each other, not to those who do not care about us, or worse, hate us.  It is in our unity despite our grief that we may try to find salvation.