West Orange for Israel

12/15/2025

10/27/2025

10/06/2025

Tonight begins Sukkot 5786 — Chag HaSukkot, also called Chag HaAsif (the Festival of Ingathering), the Feast of Tabernacles, and Zman Simchateinu — the Season of our Joy.

It is both a harvest festival and one of the three pilgrimage festivals on the Jewish calendar — which, along with all other holidays, ties us spiritually and physically to the land of Israel.

During this week, Jews step outside their permanent homes to dwell in temporary sukkot, recalling our ancestors’ journey through the wilderness and God’s sheltering presence along the way.

We bless the Four Species — the lulav (palm branch), hadassim (myrtle), aravot (willow), and etrog (citron) — all native to the land of Israel, and each symbolizing a different part of the Jewish people: spine, eyes, lips, and heart — united as one.

This year, the first day of Sukkot falls on the second anniversary of October 7 — when joy turned to mourning and the fragility of our sukkah felt all too real. Yet even in sorrow, we hope and we persevere.

May this Sukkot bring comfort to the grieving, strength to the weary, and the safe return of all who are still held captive.
And may the light shining through every sukkah remind us that though its walls are temporary, the Jewish spirit — and our connection to our land — is eternal.

🕊️💙🤍🌴🍋🇮🇱🎗️
Chag Sameach.

10/06/2025

October 7, 2025 marks
2 YEARS
732 DAYS
1200 MURDERED
255 KIDNAPPED INTO GAZA.
48 HOSTAGES STILL WAITING TO COME HOME
🇮🇱🎗️🪑

10/06/2025

More on the DOJ’s case against named West Orange residents and others, stemming from the antisemitism, intimidation and violence against the West Orange Jewish Community at one of our synagogues in November.
EndjewhatredrThe Lawfare Projectwhatred The Lawfare Project

“The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) against two extremist groups—the Party for Socialism and Liberation-New Jersey (PSL-NJ) and American Muslims for Palestine-New Jersey (AMP-NJ)—and several individuals, including Tova Fry, Altaf Sharif, Matt Dragon, and Eric Camins, who violently disrupted Jewish worship at Congregation Ohr Torah in West Orange, New Jersey.

This case is not only about accountability for one night of terror on November 13, 2024. It is about the federal government affirming its duty to protect the most basic civil right: the freedom to worship without fear.

The FACE Act prohibits force, threats of force, or physical obstruction designed to interfere with religious worship. The defendants in this case did exactly that. They broke through police lines, stormed synagogue property, assaulted Jewish worshipers—including placing a congregant in a chokehold and tackling him down a hill—and shouted menacing threats like “You’re next!” while blowing vuvuzelas inches from ears and deploying stink bombs. All of this was aimed at intimidating Jews and preventing them from participating in a religious event that included prayer, a memorial service for Rabbi Avi Goldberg, Torah study, and educational activities on the Jewish obligation to live in Israel. This was not protected protest. It was violence, pure and simple, carried out against Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

Swipe to read full feature blog from The Lawfare Project Senior Counsel Gerard Filitti in

Learn more about and how you can support our work at thelawfareproject.org. “

10/01/2025

Wishing you an easy fast, meaningful reflection, and a year of peace, health, and renewal.

גמר חתימה טובה תיכתבו ותיחתו לחיים טובים
May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year.