I can hardly believe we’re approaching the third anniversary of October 7. As in October 7, 2023, when nearly 1,200 Israelis were massacred, 364 of them at the Nova Music Festival, and some 251 hostages were taken by Hamas (now thankfully released, though not all alive).¹

This year, Israeli elections are also coming up on October 27. The media is alight with articles about those seeking to lay blame for October 7 on government officials. But this article is not about Israeli politics. Israelis will, after all, head to the polls—and they will vote as they see fit.

But as we remember October 7, whatever failures may or may not be laid at the feet of particular individuals, the hatred that led to the worst slaughter of Jews since World War II did not arise from politics. You may disagree, but I see a spiritual origin behind what has been called “the world’s oldest hatred:” antisemitism.

In the book of Genesis, God promised Abraham a people and a land. He also promised that Abraham and his descendants would bless the world:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1–3)

Since God is the one who chose Abraham, antisemitism is really directed against God.

“Dishonors” is a bit weak. Many translations say, “Whoever curses you, I will curse,” using the same word twice (even though the Hebrew contains two different words). The point is that God almost expected that there would be those who would curse Abraham, as well as his descendants Isaac and Jacob, to whom the promises were reiterated. And since God is the one who chose Abraham, those curses are really directed against God.

Why such an emphasis on people blessing, cursing, and also being blessed? Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob came our Jewish people, the ones with the vocation of bringing God’s reality, morality, and personality, so to speak, to the nations of the world.

Though we did not always succeed (read the entire Bible for the track record), many will maintain that to this day the Jewish people have continued to bless the world, not only in the area of faith, but also in medicine, law, technology, and the arts. And despite the attempts down through the centuries to marginalize, minimize, and even destroy the Jewish people, we have survived and become vehicles for blessing others. More than one legend has a king asking for proof of God, to which his courtier replied, “The Jews, Your Majesty. The Jews!”²

Christians around the world trace their faith back to the Jewish people, through whom the one they believe to be the Messiah, Jesus, came. Among the followers of Jesus are Jews as well, finding in him the culmination of the promise to Abraham of someone who would end up blessing the nations of the world.

With such a heritage, it is understandable that many see a spiritual force behind antisemitism. Destroy the Jews, and you destroy the hope of redemption. Destroy the Jews, and you destroy the blessing of God. Destroy the Jews, and some will even think they have destroyed God. The Holocaust and other horrors become nearly incomprehensible (not that they are ever comprehensible at all) if we don’t see a bigger story being played out before our eyes.

But what’s also included in the history of the Jewish people is the hope of salvation. Our stories include waiting for a Messiah who brings redemption. There is also a hope that comes when we look back through all the horrors and say … we’re still here. The prophet Jeremiah explained the survival of the Jewish people this way:

Thus says the LORD,

Who gives the sun for light by day
And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
The Lord of hosts is his name:
“If this fixed order departs
from before me,” declares the Lord,
“Then shall the offspring of Israel cease
from being a nation before me forever.”
Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
Then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
For all that they have done, declares the Lord.”
(Jeremiah 31:35–37)

“For all that they have done.” Even our sins will not be enough for the Jewish people to cease to be. It would take, Jeremiah says, the destruction of the sun, moon and stars for that to happen.

October 7 was a national trauma. But even through the trauma, the PTSD, the anxiety as well as the healing that has happened for some, we have hope. Am Yisrael Chai. “The Jewish people live.” That hope has started to become manifest since October 7. Trauma counseling has begun to help others—though there is a long path ahead for many.³ Sapir Cohen and Sasha Troufanov, both former hostages, married in July of 2026⁴—one small reminder that life and blessing can follow tragedy.

The path ahead since October 7 will not be easy. And yet we will continue, blessing the world in numerous ways, and as some maintain, most of all in Jesus—the Messiah who suffered with his Jewish people but who also offers hope of redemption.

Endnotes

¹ “October 7 attacks,” Wikipedia, accessed September 27, 2026.

² One example of this story is given by Allen S. Maller in his article, “The miracle of Jewish survival,” The Times of Israel, July 15, 2012.

³ “A National Trauma: Mental Health After 10/7,” Greater Miami Jewish Federation, March 18, 2024.

⁴ “Former hostages kidnapped together marry in Israel,” The Jewish Chronicle, July 6, 2026.