The Bottom Line
Saturday, October 19th 2024. Today marks 379 days the hostages have been held captive.
Another Shabbat with empty seats. Another tear down a loved one’s face. Another moment of wondering if they are warm. Another good morning and good night you are waiting to say. One day was too long. What have you done in 379 days?
In a year so much happens right before our eyes and we do so much. You don’t really think about it but everything around us grows. The tree you planted is a little taller. The kids need new shoes. Your tiny puppy you held with one hand is now bigger than you. The infrastructure of our cities change.Things get built and things get torn down. You took time to plan a trip and now you are headed to the airport to take off. Maybe you finally got your promotion. And being Jewish was just being Jewish. I know anti semitism exists but it is a low simmer. Things moved along as they should. 378 days ago life was simple.
Don’t get me wrong, I know this world has big problems, but our world was not crashing down. Until it was. October 7th changed everything. Being Jewish is being canceled, an outcast, shunned, and a word I don’t like using, hated. The simmer in the paragraph above has now erupted. Our kids are not safe at college. Kids their same age marching with faces covered because they want to be a part of a movement. If only they would take the time to know exactly what they are marching for. We look over our shoulders going to Shul. Simple has become difficult.
What happened was clear. A country was brutally attacked. Innocent citizens celebrating a holiday ambushed. Young beautiful adults living and dancing at a festival sent running for their lives. The images and stories are overwhelming. The loss has broken places in our hearts we did not know we had. We went from 2024 to the years of The Holocaust. Jewish people all over the world feel the hurt. I wish I could open every eye and speak into every ear. You can not pry another’s eye open or speak into deaf ears. But I can shine a light. And I will never stop.
The bottom line is we need the hostages home. We need seats filled. We need tears of sadness to turn to tears of happiness as they stream down our cheeks. We need to not question warmth. We need beauty back in our sunsets and sunrises. This world may never give us all we need. It may never open its arms to us. I don’t care what it gives us but it needs to give us our loved ones back. Period.
Our strength and our resilience are non negotiable. Nothing will ever change that.
Am Yisrael Chai.