Am Yis­rael Chai is a poet­ry anthol­o­gy that was born in response to Octo­ber 7. The poems dif­fer in style, tone, and pol­i­tics, but they all emerge from the same well­spring of sor­row. This remark­able book pro­vides the read­er with a cap­sule of one of the Jew­ish community’s defin­ing moments of reck­on­ing in the twen­ty-first century.

For those who still think of the hostages every day, who can’t dis­en­tan­gle their hearts and minds from the hor­rors of the past months, Am Yis­rael Chai is not an easy read. As one poet reflects, ​“As I sit here in the safe­ty of my home, far from danger,/my heart breaks and my soul cries out for my family/​because all Jews are my fam­i­ly.” These and oth­er words will be a solace to any­one who has been feel­ing like an out­sider in the non-Jew­ish world in the after­math of the attacks.

In the midst of anguish and frus­tra­tion also dwells the Jew­ish com­mit­ment to joy and peace. Read­ers will be amazed to find a resis­tance to the heart’s hard­en­ing. They’ll real­ize that ​“despite what they say on the news/​We do not want your blood.” In pray­ing for peace, how­ev­er, these writ­ers do not pro­fess to have the answers. One of the con­trib­u­tors, Reba Con­nell, won­ders, ​“What will ensure/​that this will nev­er hap­pen again?” It is a haunt­ing question.

One day, when the sit­u­a­tion is not as dire, Am Yis­rael Chai will stand as a tes­ta­ment to the Jew­ish peo­ple. We are a peo­ple who gath­er, weep, dis­agree, ask ques­tions, and praise life above all. Each poem proves to the world that Jews are not a mono­lith, but rather a col­lec­tion of indi­vid­u­als strug­gling to process heartache and brim­ming with hope for a bet­ter future.