Lauryn Smith

“Put simply, to reduce my Jewish identity to fighting antisemitism is a victory I refuse to grant my foe. It was great to be a Jew on October 6, and it is still great to be a Jew today. Not just the push, and not just the pull, but the centripetal momentum of the two together—that is the generative force by which our community will be maintained.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“The murders of that day? One would have been too many. As the Talmud teaches, “Whosoever destroys a single soul, it is as if they have destroyed an entire universe.” The attacks were a vile crime perpetrated against innocents, the very foundations of our faith, and the underlying bond of our common humanity.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“Not joyfully; nor, for that matter, by our own volition. After October 7th, being a Jew became an identity defined by others, by those who ignore our pain, exclude us, hate us, threaten us, and in some cases kill us.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today

“muster, I explained to her the post-October behavior of her Jewish families, making sure she knew she had a resource in me, should she ever need one.”
― Elliot Cosgrove, For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today