As we approach the Jewish New Year, I am again reminded that the Jewish calendar is a guide to our story as a people. In its pages we find holy days and holidays recalling the giving of the Torah at Sinai, our slavery in Egypt and near annihilation in Persia, the harvests in ancient Israel and the rededication of our desecrated Temple in Jerusalem.

Over the past century, we have added dates marking the Holocaust and modern Israel’s independence. And this year something else stands out: October 7—which in 2023 witnessed the worst loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Shoah—falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

No one needs to remind us that our history is fraught with tragedy. Yet we are equally defined by our survival. We have outlived every enemy, and Israel’s rebirth nearly 2,000 years after its destruction was unique in human annals, a miracle and a tribute to Jewish action and faith.

Many factors can explain our resilience, but I think one element often overlooked is the flexibility that comes with living according to two calendars simultaneously—the Gregorian and the Hebrew. In good times and bad, we are conditioned to navigate parallel realms.

We can’t escape the overlapping of our concurrent worlds—not just Jewish and secular, but also everyday joys and existential threats. As we contemplate the lives shattered on October 7 and since, we also find solidarity in our sense of community. And we are strengthened by the knowledge that the generations that went before us not only overcame great sorrow but also prepared us for handling it.

I pray that today’s challenges are temporary, but I can’t help thinking that we have simply returned to normal: A world in which antisemitism thrives, in which Israel is threatened from every direction, in which Jewish students on college campuses fear wearing kippot or Stars of David in public view.

But this is our time and our moment. We can’t choose the world we live in, only the way we deal with it. We have the will, the organizational structure and the allies we need to defend ourselves. We are more fortunate than our ancestors, many of whom lived in nations that gave state sanction to antisemitism.

From its inception, Hadassah has been the premier voice for women in the Zionist movement. This organization was a critical force in building the Jewish state, laying the foundation for health care, for child rescue and education; our institutions remain bulwarks of Israel’s social welfare system today. The Hadassah Medical Organization was ready on October 7 and received some of those injured during the Hamas terror attacks and, ever since, soldiers from the battlefield. Our new Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus—the first of its kind in Jerusalem—was scheduled to open in mid-2024, but we accelerated its launch and began treating soldiers and other patients on January 15.

We have also redoubled our advocacy efforts, challenging the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, among others, for their apparent inability to recognize murder, torture and rape when it is perpetrated against Israeli victims.

Even as we pour our energy into defending Israel and Jewish lives, we embrace our responsibility as Americans. An election is coming in November and many of our signature issues are on the line, including defense of Israel, women’s reproductive rights and expanding health care and research, to mention just a few. Sitting out the election is not an option.

We are busy, but we are also blessed. Many of the women who built our infrastructure, living before the ubiquity of automobiles, went to their chapter meetings on foot. With our modern conveniences, juggling two calendars—and increasing our power rather than dividing it—is the least we can do.

May the New Year make us stronger, and may it bring peace. Shanah tovah u’metukah to you and your loved ones!