The Next Day

The milestone has passed…the anniversary date of October 7th. All the ceremonies, gatherings, prayers, and learnings commemorating that day, a year later, will no longer soothe my soul.

For even a fraction of a millisecond, I can not bemoan my own struggles without realizing that there is no comparison with the horror, pain, and sadness of anyone living in Israel this past year. Far from it…Guilt has set up a home within me.

But in the aftermath of that horrid day….coming so far as a year out, and still living with Israel’s solitude has been difficult.

Israel has suffered in darkness for a year—and in that year, I’ve waited for the world to wake up from its slumber of moral ignorance.

No nations have truly stood up for her. Not really. When you peel away the politics, there is very little real understanding of the situation or support for Israel’s struggles.

The conscience of the world has been in a coma and there is not a sign of life for it emerging.

My living in the United States, thousands of miles away, safely puts me out of physical harm from the deluge of rockets, and the unmentionable pain of losing loved ones—but I am not shielded from the horrors of hatred, lies, and antisemitism pervading this country at an unprecedented level.

This is our history as a people. Living among but apart. In the end, fighting alone. And not able to deny who we are at the core.

But I know that as a people, we will prevail.

We’re part of the promise and we testify to that by standing up to what we know is right. We are witnesses to the power of the Eternal, the One Who Loves.