‘Devastating,’ ‘difficult,’ ‘depressing’: JTA readers on their year since Oct. 7, in one word

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