This article is part of a series examining how Oct. 7 and its aftermath have changed the Jewish world. You can see the complete project here.
More than 700 readers responded to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s survey asking about what has changed in their lives over the last year. In extended comments, they described wrenching changes, political and personal isolation and feelings of grief and fear since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
JTA readers also offered an abridged version of their stories in responses to the survey’s first question, about how they would summarize their year in a single word. Here are the words they chose, in declining order of frequency.
37 times: Sad
34 times: Difficult
26 times: Devastating
24 times: Heartbroken
23 times: Stressful
19 times each: Anxious, depressing
17 times: Horrific
16 times each: Challenging, painful
15 times: Frightening
14 times each: Scary, traumatic
12 times: Horrible
10 times each: Upsetting, worrisome
9 times each: Concerning, exhausting, frustrating, grief, tense
8 times each: Hard, lonely, shocking
7 times each: Anger, distressing, terrifying
6 times each: Awful, despair, emotional, harrowing, heavy, isolating
5 times each: Confusing, crushing, disappointing, eye-opening, gut-wrenching, hell, surreal, terrible, tumultuous, unsettling
4 times each: Anguish, awakening, disgusted, disturbing, loss, shattering, sorrowful, tough, troubling
3 times each: Busy, complicated, conflicting, disbelief, fraught, intense, overwhelming, rage, sobering, trying, unnerving
2 times each: Existential, agony, alienation, consuming, antisemitism, apprehensive, bad, broken, brutal, chaotic, clarifying, dark, demoralizing, discouraging, distrust, dreadful, horrendous, infuriating, miserable, mournful, nightmare, PTSD, relentless, rollercoaster, rough, tragic, transformative, unprecedented
Once each: Abandoned, ashamed, bereaved, betrayal, bewildering, bittersweet, bizarre, blurry, cataclysmic, cautious, change, contempt, crazy, debilitating, dedication, defining, despondent, different, disconnected, disheartening, disillusioning, disjointed, dismal, disruptive, dissonance, draining, enlightening, excruciating, forlorn, fractured, fragile, galvanizing, gutting, harsh, hectic, helpless, hopeful, hurting, indescribable, lamentation, life-altering, long, meaningful, mind-blowing, nauseating, prayerful, puzzled, reflective, revealing, rocky, sickening, solemn, tormenting, tortured, turmoil, uncertain, unifying, unpleasant, unstable, upending, vigilance, vulnerable, weary, worst, yikes
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