The High Holidays can make the experience of infertility feel especially visible. Synagogue halls fill with families. Prayers turn toward the year ahead. Conversations center on children, continuity, and hopes for what comes next. For someone still waiting to grow their family, all of that meaning can sit alongside grief, fear, hope, and a deep desire to belong.

Published for the High Holidays of 5782, Kol Tikva: Hear Our Voices brings together personal reflections from people experiencing infertility alongside perspectives from Yesh Tikva professionals and communal leaders. Written during the return to in-person Jewish life after the COVID-19 pandemic, these pieces explore what it meant to re-enter community after a period when distance had, for some, offered unexpected protection from painful questions, pregnancy announcements, strollers, and the pressure to appear okay.

Although some references are specific to that moment in time, the questions at the heart of this collection remain familiar: How do you return to a community that can feel both deeply meaningful and deeply painful? What does hope look like when another year has passed? And how can the people around someone experiencing infertility make Jewish spaces feel more welcoming, thoughtful, and safe?

What You’ll Find Inside

This collection includes:

• First-person accounts of infertility during the High Holidays, including the experience of returning to Rosh Hashanah while still waiting for a child
• Reflections on synagogue and community, including why communal spaces can feel comforting, painful, or both
• Perspectives on hope, faith, and prayer when another year has passed without the outcome someone prayed for
• Practical guidance for communal leaders and loved ones on making synagogue services and holiday gatherings more sensitive to people experiencing infertility
• Examples of compassionate language for responding when someone shares that they are struggling
• The Yesh Tikva Fertility Prayer, in Hebrew and English.

A note on this edition: This journal was originally published for the High Holidays of 5782 (2021), during the return to in-person communal life following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some reflections speak directly to that period. We continue to share the collection because the experiences of infertility, belonging, isolation, prayer, and hope explored within it remain deeply relevant.

Sometimes Community Is Both the Place You Long For and the Place That Hurts

Infertility can complicate a person’s relationship with Jewish communal life. A synagogue can feel like home while also holding reminders of what someone is still waiting for. A holiday invitation can feel loving and impossible to accept. Prayer can offer comfort while bringing grief painfully close.

These voices make room for all of those truths.

Hear Their Voices

Read the reflections of Jewish individuals navigating infertility and consider what they can teach all of us about hope, belonging, and creating more compassionate communities.