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Friends:
I can’t believe that I am sending an email on both Shabbat and a holiday. Yet, after the events of the last hours, how could I not? Libi Ba-Mizrach. My heart is in the East with our brothers and sisters in Israel. I know that many of you have relatives living or studying in Israel, and our hearts are with you as well. May they all be safe.
While the horrific details of this atrocity are still coming into focus, we do know that the terrorist group Hamas launched a calculated and large-scale attack on Israeli civilians within undisputed Israeli sovereign land this morning. Scores have been killed. Dozens of soldiers and civilians are feared to have been taken hostage into Gaza, thousands are wounded, and the entire nation is traumatized. 50 years to the day of remembering the Yom Kippur War and Israel is again digging fresh dirt to bury its citizens who are being murdered for the crime of being Jewish and living in the Jewish State.
Their actions need to be punished, and while we all trust in the IDF, the coming days and weeks will be very difficult for our global Jewish community, especially those in Israel. We will reach out early next week with ways that we can support our Jewish Homeland. It’s hard to believe that just 50 years later we face another unprecedented cowardly and illegal attack from a terrorist force. Just like we did fifty years ago, we will rise as a community to meet the needs of this challenge.
We will carry forward with our Simchat Torah plans this evening at the shul, at 6:30 pm., and again tomorrow at 9 and 9:30 a.m., albeit more muted than planned. As always, we stay in constant contact with our local and national law enforcement and will maintain vigilance for our collective safety.
We pray that all Israelis are returned to their homes, that they all be safe, that they find peace, and that the enemy is subdued once and for all. Please share this prayer with your family, online or by yourself for peace for our homeland of Israel.
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