For the first offering in this week’s TraditionOnline “War Writing” series, we share a sample chapter from Erica Brown’s meditative “Morning Has Broken: Faith After October 7th.” In this chapter, “Getting Better to Get Worse,” the author braids personal reflections and Jewish texts about faith, unity, pain, and hope during this war in Israel and in response to antisemitism everywhere.

It is too soon to say what the form and content of that new wave of creativity we anticipate will arrive when our current struggle in Israel ends.  Yet, even at this early date, we have begun to witness the emergence of creative responses to the events of Simchat Torah 2023 and its long aftermath. Jeffrey Saks introduces a special series: This week TraditionOnline runs excerpts from three new works composed in response to our current traumatic moment.