AUBURN — Temple Shalom hosted the local Jewish community Monday night as part of a statewide commemoration, along with eight other Maine synagogues, to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Hamas attack on Israel.

With a bigger gathering taking place at Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine in Portland, synagogues across the state joined via Zoom to remember and grieve the many lives lost in the Oct. 7 attack.

“It’s been a very complicated day,” Rabbi Sruli Dresdner of Temple Shalom said. “News bombarding from all over. Different ideas and different opinions and different thoughts and all really, really difficult to process at the same time as we’re so deeply mourning.”

Dresdner and Rebbetzin Lisa Mayer performed the Shema, “Judaism’s most sacred prayer,” Dresdner said, to honor “a survivor of last year’s massacre who was hiding with her 10-year-old-son.”

“As the murderer closed in, she whispered to her son, ‘I think it’s time for us to recite the Shema. Her son answered, ‘I already said it.'”

“I can’t help but think that similar scenes must have been repeated dozens of times throughout that day, and likely thousands of times throughout Jewish history,” Dresdner said. “In solidarity with those for whom the Shema were their last words, and on behalf of those who were never given the opportunity to recite it, let us all recite the Shema together,” he said.

Names and stories of those who were killed or abducted last year were recounted. Rabbi Hannah Esterin of Portland’s Temple Beth El shared a prayer, followed by poems from Rabbi Erica Asch of Augusta’s Temple Beth El.

For those in the community, the day marked a pivotal moment. Dina Blackerby of Lewiston said the past year has been very difficult as she has been trying to make sense of survival, identity and peace in a conflicting reality.

“My mother escaped to Morocco,” she said. “Morocco is a Muslim country and I was born in a Muslim country. That country did save us then,” Blackerby said.

Her husband, Daniel, came back to Maine in late August after a month of volunteering for the Israeli Defense Forces. He said he had seen the conflict first-hand.

“In Tel Aviv, I couldn’t tell there was a war going on. It just seemed like normal life,” he said. “Now, when they sent me to the base at Katzrin over by Beersheba, which was only 10 miles from Gaza, there I was aware of it. You could hear the bombs exploding over and about, where the rockets come from,” he said.

In the year since, support has been “pretty tight,” and “among ourselves,” Blackerby said, but he does feel safe in Maine.

“I know security’s up,” he said. “I don’t feel endangered here so much in Maine. There’s other places in the United States where I might be more nervous.”

“The rabbi was talking about his daughter who goes to high school and where she used to wear the Star of David all the time,” Blackerby said. “Now, she’s getting some pretty nasty grams on social media, singling her out.”

Dresdner said he was grateful to those who showed up for the community, including Mayor Carl Sheline of Lewiston.

“I just want to say that we’re so grateful for the people in the community who supported us,” Dresdner said. “I got a very nice email from the Attorney General of the State of Maine today. That meant so much to us,” he added. “Means so much to know that we’re not alone.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the Portland event was held at the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine.