Rabbi's Message

After 738 days of waiting, praying, advocating, and holding our collective breath — they are home.

All living hostages are now home in Israel.

Before we turn our attention fully to their return, we must first recognize that the bodies of 19 slain hostages still remain in Gaza — 19 families still waiting for closure. Nineteen souls still waiting to come home. Please God, may they soon be brought back to Israel so that they can rest in peace.

Finally — finally — the living hostages are home.

For nearly two years, our hearts have been tethered to theirs: to the faces on posters, the names in our prayers, and the ache of not knowing. Every Shabbat and holiday, we sang Aheinu. Every day, an empty chair remained on our bimah. And every time we sang Hatikvah, we clung to the hope that one day they would be free.

And now, at last, that day has come. They are home.

And yet, we know that homecoming is not the end of the story — it is the beginning of another. Healing is its own long journey — one we must walk together, as a people.

This moment comes just as we closed the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) on Simhat Torah and immediately began again with Bereisheet (Genesis). Our tradition teaches that there are no true endings — only sacred cycles of renewal. We never stay too long in grief, nor too far in celebration. We turn, and we begin again.

Now is the time to rebuild. To reconnect. To reimagine what wholeness can look like — for the hostages, for their families, for Israel, and for all of us whose spirits have been bruised by these long, hard years.

Let us move forward gently, but with courage.

Let us be a people who not only pray for redemption, but participate in it — through acts of kindness, steadfast hope, and the rebuilding of trust and community.

As the Jewish holidays draw to a close, and as this season of renewal unfolds, may we strive to be the hope, the light, and the blessing we seek — as we begin again, together.