How Jewish people and organizations can rebuild trust two years after Oct. 7 - opinion

With the remaining living hostages recently returned and a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, we might be turning a new page in the book of our history. Throughout this period, our faith, unity, and hope were tested in ways we never imagined – and it has come at a cost.

The Hope Study, conducted by M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education this past July in the tense weeks after the Iran-Israel war, captured the emotional state of Jewish community professionals when uncertainty still hung over every conversation. The findings reflect a Jewish world still holding its breath – a community that had endured war, loss, and growing division, unsure when or how relief would come.

Over the past six years – through pandemic, war, and rising antisemitism – the reservoir of hope that professionals had held onto has been strained. The study captured that with startling clarity.

That charge has carried our people through centuries of challenge and change.

The study findings have stirred strong reactions across the Jewish world. Commentators called the results “gutting,” “a wake-up call,” “sobering”, and “dismal news indeed.” Many saw the study as a snapshot of despair. But the data also revealed something deeper – not just the cost of these years, but a roadmap for how Jewish organizations might begin to restore hope, trust, and faith within their staff and communities. Three themes emerged from the study, offering a path toward rebuilding from within.

After years of crisis management and polarization, one of the clearest study findings is that Jewish professionals want the chance to process their grief, pain, and uncertainty together – with peers and colleagues who truly understand one another. Just as Kohelet teaches, “Two are better than one… for if they fall, one will lift up his friend.” (Eccl. 4:9–10). Hope, too, is built that way. Facilitated peer dialogues – intentional forums where colleagues lift one another through honest conversations that bring the unspoken to the surface – enable hard truths and vulnerability to be met with presence rather than prescriptions. In spaces like this, Jewish professionals can discover that honesty does not weaken them – it actually becomes a source of strength, connection, and courage for all.

That courage cannot – and should not – be cultivated alone. Organizations must take the lead in creating these spaces.

Invite your staff to come together, name their joys and doubts, acknowledge the toll of recent years, and share the weight and the wisdom that come with leading. When you make space for that kind of honesty, it empowers your professionals to renew as well as endure, and to grow stronger. In doing so, they can, by cultivating deep and authentic relationships, reclaim a true sense of hope for the future.

A second theme revealed how, in uncertain times, principled leadership has the power to anchor and guide both professionals and the communities they serve. Jewish professionals consistently cited moral clarity from organizational leaders as a top driver of hope. They want organizational leaders who take clear, values-based stands on difficult issues – and who back those positions with care and consistency in how they lead and communicate.

For example, professionals described hope emerging when organizational leaders displayed moral courage by “taking a clear stance against antisemitism,” “making strong public statements supporting Israel,” or “advocating forcefully for the community’s safety.”

When organizational leaders unapologetically combine firmness with vulnerability and conviction with candor, they build trust from within. And that trust is what allows hope to endure, even in the face of painful or divisive issues.

Perhaps the most powerful finding of the Hope Study was also the simplest: What sustains Jewish professionals most is community, a deep sense of Clal Yisrael, of Jewish peoplehood. “Community” was named nearly twice as often as any other value associated with hope. For professionals who spend their days carrying the burdens of others, the presence of true community is what allows them to continue their work with resilience and meaning.

To improve morale and deepen the bonds of community, Jewish organizations should focus on three key drivers of hope our study uncovered.

• First, professionals need to see that their contributions matter. Eighty-five percent of professionals identified “the impact of my work on others” as their most important source of hope. So, when organizations make staff impact visible – through feedback loops, storytelling, or simply naming successes – they help individuals recognize that they matter, and demonstrate how their work strengthens the whole. This validation can help restore the sense of purpose that professionals need to sustain them in times of crisis.

• Second, morale is renewed when staff witness acts of courage and kindness. Eighty percent of respondents said that observing courage and kindness in their communities was very important for sustaining their hope. These moments, whether small gestures of compassion among colleagues or bold acts of public solidarity, remind professionals that their work connects to the very essence of what it means to be a human.

• Finally, reinforcing a broad sense of belonging to the Jewish people provides a lasting foundation of hope. When organizations strengthen that sense of belonging – through shared rituals, collective narratives, or simply reminding staff that they are part of something larger than themselves – they help professionals draw resilience from the broader Jewish story. That connection grounds their daily work in meaning that extends far beyond any single role or institution.

When organizations invest in the people who carry that hope – by supporting their resilience, celebrating their impact, and anchoring them in community – they are also investing in the strength and future of the Jewish people. As Pirkei Avot teaches, “The world stands on three things: on Torah, on service, and on acts of lovingkindness.” It is based on these pillars – and through those who embody them – that our communities endure and flourish.