Gandhi, Durga, Yom Kippur, and Gaza: A Day of Prayer and Protest

Yesterday, October 2nd, carried a rare constellation of meaning. It was Gandhi Jayanti, the day India honors Mahatma Gandhi’s radical insistence on nonviolence. It was Vijayadashami, when Hindus mark the victory of Shakti — the fierce divine energy that defeats injustice and protects life. And it was Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar, a time of atonement, remembrance, and recommitment.

In Brooklyn, these threads came together in a public Yom Kippur service organized by Rabbis for Ceasefire. Our Executive Director, Sunita Viswanath, joined 1,500 Jews of conscience and allies outside Brooklyn Borough Hall for a ritual that was equal parts worship and protest.

The gathering was called “Remember, Refuse, Recommit”. Rabbis and local leaders lifted prayers for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for the hostages still held in Israel, and for Jewish communities facing rising antisemitism worldwide — including the recent attack on a synagogue in Manchester, UK.

This was not a quiet service. The crowd sang ancient melodies, wailed in grief for the more than 65,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, tore a long white sheet woven among them to embody the pain of loss, and prostrated on the ground in atonement.

When the prayers ended, the rabbis led a procession through the streets. At the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, the gathering turned into civil disobedience. Sunita joined dozens who sat, refused to move, and were arrested in prayerful protest.

Late that night, Sunita shared these words with us:

Sunita Viswanath, HfHR ED

“When our money and arms continue to starve and bomb little children and entire families in Gaza, I cannot contain my grief and rage. When Gandhi Jayanti and Vijayadashami fall on Yom Kippur, my heart cannot fathom how far we are from the true significance of these days. Ritual has always been a way that humans have coped with life’s blessings and hardships. Sitting in ritual prayer – wailing, tearing, prostrating, singing – helped my heart cope with the enormity of the loss all around. Sitting in civil disobedience, holding hands with siblings and refusing to move, and taking arrest: this connects me to my legacy as both an Indian and an American. I long for the day when I can gather in Hindu ritual worship in the streets to bind faithful prayer to the insistence on peace (shanti), justice (nyaya), and the wellbeing of all (lokasangraha).”

The alignment of Gandhi Jayanti, Vijayadashami, and Yom Kippur reminds us that faith, memory, and protest are inseparable. On days like these, ritual becomes resistance — and resistance, at its most powerful, is sacred.