The Year in Review: 5784

Compiled by Charlie Varon & Myra Levy,

with help from Janet Varon & Eduardo Muñoz

Read by Charlie at Or Shalom Rosh Hashanah services, 10/2/2024

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Remembering 5784
For Or Shalom Rosh Hashanah services, 10/2/24 
Encompasses events from 9/15/2023 forward

Charlie Varon & Myra Levy, with help from
Janet Varon & Eduardo Muñoz
 

We gather this evening as a community, witnesses to the passing of another year. We remember, we reflect, we take stock.
 
Since we gathered here a year ago, the Earth has completed another orbit around the sun.

On the morning of October 7th, I got a text message from a friend. it said, simply: “No words.”
It has been nearly a year. 
And still – no words.
Unspeakable terror. 
Unspeakable suffering. 
In Israel, in Gaza, in the West Bank, and now in Lebanon.
So let’s sit in silence and be with that. 
[SILENCE]
Not all of us hold these events in the same way. We grieve differently, we interpret events differently, we anchor ourselves in different images, different moments from this horrific year. We tell different stories about what has happened, what is happening, what must happen. 

And how could it be otherwise?

We all have different connections to the conflicts, to the people who are suffering. We have different historical reference points, different analyses, different political views, different political lineages. We blame differently, we argue differently. We lash out differently. We empathize differently. 

Many of us have friends or relatives on different sides of the divides. Some of us straddle different political and cultural and religious communities. Many of us are internally conflicted.

But here we are together. Together with what we have witnessed. Witnessed in the last year. Witnessed even in the last few days. What we have seen, what we have heard, the pain, the outrage, the anguish. The fear and uncertainty.

So let us be together, each holding what we hold, alone and together. 
No words. Silence 

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[CLOSE EYES/silence]

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[REPEAT]

Since we gathered here a year ago, the Earth has completed another orbit around the sun.

In the last year, the concentration of carbon dioxide reached a record high, the world continued to experience extreme weather events, and 2024 was the hottest summer on record.

In the last year, France announced a plan to end the use of fossil fuels by 2030, and Norway became the first country to have more EVs than gas-powered cars

In the last year…
Donald Trump became the first U.S. president convicted of a crime. A jury found him guilty on 34 counts in the New York election interference trial. 

In the January 6 case, where Trump is charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, the Supreme Court ruled that Presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official actions. In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor said the decision makes the president “a king above the law.”

In Florida a federal judge dismissed the case that accused Trump of illegally possessing classified documents. Special Counsel Jack Smith is appealing that dismissal.

In Georgia, Trump still faces eight charges of attempting to interfere with the 2020 election.

In Milwaukee, in July, the Republican Party chose Trump as their presidential candidate. 

In the last year…
Trump survived an assassination attempt, picked JD Vance as his running mate, and continued to lie, defame and slander on the campaign trail.

In the last year…
President Biden suspended his campaign after a disastrous debate performance, Kamala Harris became the new Democratic nominee and named as her running mate Gov. Tim Walz, who had become known for describing Trump and Vance as weird.

This year, once again, we face the most important election of our lives. There are 34 days until the 2024 general election, and early voting has already begun in some states.

In the last year…
The war in Ukraine continued, with Ukraine making strikes inside Russia. So far the war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
The civil war in Myanmar entered its fourth year, and the country is on the brink of becoming a failed state. 
Sudan’s civil war continued, with 10 million people now refugees or internally displaced.

In the last year, Sweden joined NATO.

In the last year…
Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny died in prison. His death was widely attributed to Putin.

In the last year, 3 Americans were freed in major prisoner swap with Russia.

In the last year, authorities in Iran continued to arrest and detain women’s rights defenders. 
 

In the last year…
Claudia Sheinbaum was elected as the first woman president of Mexico.

Taiwan elected a new president, William Lai, who called on China to “cease political and military intimidation.” 

In Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro declared victory in an election widely seen to be rigged.

In Russia, Putin was re-elected with a reported 88% of the vote. In Rwanda, Paul Kagame was re-elected with a reported 99% of the vote.    

Britain’s Labour Party returned to power for the first time in 14 years. 

In the Netherlands, the far-right Freedom party increased its share of seats. 

And in Poland, Donald Tusk became prime minister, marking a major turn away from right-wing nationalism.

In the last year…
Floods, earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes wrought damage on people, property and wildlife. The Southeastern United States is now reeling from Hurricane Helene.

In Mecca, over a thousand pilgrims died as a consequence of extreme heat.
In Baltimore, a container ship collided with a bridge. 

In the last year…
Artificial intelligence continued its march forward.

Meta was sued by 41 states' attorneys general, accusing the social media company of harming children's health.

Brazil blocked the social media platform Twitter, or X, or whatever it’s called, over rampant disinformation, and then Elon Musk backed down.

In the last year…

The Supreme Court threw out the Chevron decision, undercutting federal regulation of public health, workplace safety and the environment.

President Biden took further action to cancel student debt. 

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half-point.

The UAW went on strike, ratified new contracts, and Biden became the first President to walk a picket line.

Just yesterday, tens of thousands of longshore workers launched a strike at ports along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

In the last year…
Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom.
This year there are abortion-related measures on the ballot in ten states. In the US today, 1 in 3 women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban.

A door plug blew off a Boeing 737 at an altitude of 16,000 feet because it was improperly installed.  

In the last year, rite aid, wework, red lobster and tupperware and all declared bankruptcy.

In the last year, 24 prisoners were executed in the US, including Marcellus Williams – despite efforts to vacate his sentence by the St Louis County prosecutor.

In California the last execution took place in 2006. It is unlikely the death penalty will ever be used again in our state. 

In the last year…
Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud, George Santos was expelled from Congress, Sen. Robert Menendez was convicted of taking bribes, Rudolph Giuliani was disbarred, and New York Mayor Eric Adams was indicted for corruption.

In the last year…
The Paris Games were the first Olympics in which an equal number of male and female athletes took part. In the US, women's basketball is now on ESPN every night, and Caitlyn Clark was named Rookie of the Year.

In the last week, the Athletics baseball team played their final game in Oakland.

In the last year…
San Francisco hosted the APEC summit, with President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in attendance. The two countries agreed to reopen channels of military communications and to cooperate to fight climate change. 

The Washington Post reported that outside the summit, protesters opposed to China’s policies were harassed and beaten by Chinese diplomats and members of pro-China diaspora groups.

In California in the last year…

A law was enacted banning legacy admissions to colleges and universities.

Voters barely passed Proposition 1, which changed how the state allocates funding for mental health care and addiction care.

A law took effect prohibiting the concealed carry of firearms in most public places. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil, claiming the company engaged “in a decades-long campaign of deception” about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.

The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of UC Berkeley, allowing it to construct housing at People's Park. 

Senator Dianne Feinstein died, and was replaced by Laphonza Butler.

And California became the first state to banish Froot Loops from school cafeterias.

In San Francisco, Waymo expanded its driverless robotaxi service, more than a third of office space remains vacant, and one percent of our citizens are unhoused.

In our mayoral race, four major candidates are challenging incumbent London Breed. Key issues in the race include reviving downtown, building more housing, and how to help those struggling with homelessness and addiction. 

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In the last year… 
The world lost Willie Mays, Henry Kissinger, Alice Munro, Phil Donahue, OJ Simpson, Malachy McCourt, Maggie Smith, James Earl Jones, Daniel Kahnemann, Chita Rivera, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ady Barkan, Robert Brustein, Dr Ruth Westheimer, Rosalynn Carter, Norman Lear, Tom Smothers, Donald Sutherland, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Kinky Friedman, Seiji Ozawa, Pete Rose, Kris Kristofferson, Berkeley journalist and radio host Larry Bensky, San Francisco novelist Herb Gold, and Richard Sherman, half of the songwriting team that created the word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

In the past year…
We saw a new view of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Scientists continued to challenge human beings’ sense of our own specialness. Some researchers are decoding the clicks of sperm whales and suggest they have a communication system considerably more complex than previously thought.

In our community in the last year…
We consecrated our new Or Shalom home on Cortland Avenue and formally installed our rabbi, Rabbi Faryn.

We celebrated new babies, b’nai mitzvah, graduations and weddings.
Teeth were lost, new teeth grown.
Many hours of homework were done.
Many items were purchased online that turned out to be disappointments.

Parents and grandparents took care of children.

Adult children cared for aging parents.

A lot of us did the best we could for our loved ones.

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In the last year…
Activists organized for justice, for democracy, for universal health care, for voting rights, for climate justice and environmental sustainability – not giving up on humanity or the planet.

Around the world millions of people worked for universal access to safe food, shelter and clean water.

In the last year…
Without warning or preparation, human beings entered into moments of intense joy.

In the last year…
Some of us have lost family members and friends.  
Some have struggled with illness, injury, addiction, and unemployment.
Some have been blessed with healing and new beginnings.
 
Let us reflect on what we have learned this past year:
What we’ve learned about ourselves.
What we’ve learned about loved ones and about our community.
What we’ve learned about the world.
What we’ve learned about our purpose in life. 

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