'Very difficult time' for US Jews as High Holy Days and October 7 anniversary coincide
Voice of America
Craig Berko, director of membership at Temple Beth Sholom, prepares to hand out prayer books during a Shabbat service, Sept. 27, 2024, in Miami Beach, Fla.
Known as "The Days of Awe," Judaism's High Holy Days — which begin on Wednesday — annually provide an emotional mix of celebration, introspection and atonement for Jews around the world.
Screenshot of an X post showing bounty notice for Carmen Lau.
Loraine Mwanza, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), speaks at the launch of the USAID-Funded MISA Freedom of Expression Report at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Dec. 17, 2024. (Kathy Short for VOA)
FILE - Former members of Syria's Bashar al-Assad's security forces wait in line to register for the identification and reconciliation process, after the ousting of al-Assad, in Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 23, 2024.
FILE - Police officers detain Alesya Marokhovskaya of the Vazhniye Istorii news outlet outside the Russia's Justice Ministry. The banner reads: "There are no foreign agents, there are journalists," in Moscow, Sept. 8, 2021.
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba poses for photographs as he arrives for a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec. 24, 2024.
FILE - Orphans and children separated from their parents in Kadugli gather to eat boiled leaves at an IDP Camp within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area in Boram County, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, June 22, 2024. FILE - A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Darfur and other famine-stricken parts of Sudan, Nov. 12, 2024. (WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via Reuters)
FILE - Students attend a class on media literacy at the Hiidenkiven Koulu school on November 19, 2024 in Helsinki, Finland. In Finland -- a country consistently ranked Europe's most media literate -- the skills needed to spot online hoaxes are on the school curriculum, amidst a boom of mis- and disinformation campaigns.
FILE - A flag of Shiite group Sayyid al-Shuhada is placed on the wall of the U.S. Embassy during a protest, in Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 31, 2019.
FILE - This May 9, 2015, photo shows state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad's Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Israeli emergency services work at the scene of a missile strike that, according to Israel's military, was launched from Yemen and landed in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, Israel, December 21, 2024.
FILE - Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. FILE - Pope Francis pushes open the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, formally launching the Holy Year of Mercy, at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. FILE - Pope Francis walks inside the Paliano detention center, south of Rome, April 13, 2017.