Prayers and calls for arms embargo mark Philadelphia gatherings to mourn lives lost one year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel

Dressed in white, they came to the riverbank in Philadelphia with pebbles in their hands and prayers of peace in their hearts.

On the eve of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the resulting war, over a hundred members of Jewish Voice for Peace gathered on the banks of the Schuylkill on Sunday afternoon. Performing a symbolic ritual to mark the start of the Jewish New Year, the group tossed stones into the river and demanded an immediate cease of U.S. support of Israeli military action.

"We go into the new year with a message of a free Palestine," said Rabbi Linda Holtzman, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace. "We are giving a very strong message to our government that we need to stop."

The ritual, known as tashlich, uses pebbles to represent the casting off of the things from the previous year that weigh on people's hearts. Tearful and embracing, the group hoped the United States would cast off its support of Israel by enacting an arms embargo.

For Lucy Lunay, 21, the moment brought a sense of empowerment.

"Having been fighting for a cease-fire for a whole year and seeing no progress from the American government feels like a failure," she said. "But, it felt hopeful to be able to cast off those negative feelings."

As she approached the riverbank, Lunay found herself praying for the first time "in a very long time." She hoped the new year, celebrated with Rosh Hashanah last week, would bring a sense of togetherness and strength for those "continuing our fight for a free Palestine."

Holding his stone, Ezra Nepon, 46, thought of his late grandmother, who passed away late last year. The two had found themselves on different sides of the conflict. Casting his stone into the water, he said he felt he was letting go of the "guilt and shame" he has felt over Israel's failure to reach a cease-fire.

In her closing prayer, Holtzman urged people to remember "every parent and child that was killed in the past year was someone else's entire world."

At the other end of the city at the National Constitution Center, more than a thousand members of various Jewish organizations gathered Sunday evening amid rows of Israeli flags to honor the nearly 1,200 people killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Each flag was accompanied by a photo of a victim.

After a moment of silence, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pennsylvania) spoke in a video.

"I'm so sorry for the trauma of what happened to all the victims of the October 7 massacre, and the Jewish community, and the rampant kinds of antisemitism on our college campuses and across this nation," Fetterman said, promising the crowd his office will stand "firmly on the side of Israel through this."