Weekly D'var Torah

On this day, today, our surviving hostages were liberated at last.  Out of the dark tunnels and conditions of unspeakable cruelty and deprivation, forced to dig their own graves, starved, they have been at last returned to their families, Kibbutzim, towns and neighborhoods.  A collective sigh of relief palbably passed through the Jewish State, from the crowds in hostage square to the Nova festival site, a site of slaughter that now rings with the songs of thanks, the entire country melts in tears of joy, gratitude and relief. 

Women from all over Israel gather at the Nova Site to pray and remember.  Today, they sing a Psalm of Thanksgiving.

Click here to hear them.

The darkness of the last two years is lifting at last. My daughter, Shimrit, who lives in South Tel Aviv with her wonderful husband, Guy, says that hope has been born out of darkness.  Hope of peace, of co-existence, of a new beginning.  I can only pray that she is right and that the sleepless nights of fear, of running to bomb shelters, of heartbreak will be replaced by something new, an Ohr Chadash, a New Light…

But tomorrow, Shemini Atzeret,we need to remember and to light Yahrtzeit Candles.  A friend from Ofakim shared with me just one story of loss- the young man who tutored her son for his Bar Mitzvah, Aaran Farash, did not hesitate when he was needed.  And the sacrifice he made is one that all of us must strive to be worthy of.

Aaron Farash z’’l

Read about Aaron here.

I would like to invite everyone to attend Yizkor tomorrow and to remember their loved ones who have passed but also to wear their hostage ribbons and dog tags. If, as we have prayed, the deceased hostages, murdered in captivity,  are returned for loving and respectful burial, we will tearfully place our ribbons on the Chair of Remembrance to stand in tribute.

Simchat Torah

Tomorrow night, we put sorrow aside for joy..  Simchat Torah is the After Party of the High Holidays when we take one more day for rejoicing, when the Torah itself grows legs and dances with us.

As if to crown our hopes and prayers, we received a short video.  Din Tesla, a survivor of the Nova massacre, has been touring the world- including a visit to Adath Shalom, thanks to leaders and advocates Ilyssa and Jenn,  since that grim day, putting his life on hold to raise awareness of his dear friend, Bar Kuperstein, kidnapped by the terrorists as he tried to administer first aid to some of the victims at the music festival.. 

Bar’s father, left paralyzed and non-vocal by a car accident, never lost his faith and fought his way back to be able to stand up and welcome his son home.  Here is that holy moment.  We hope to be able to welcome and host Bar and Din, friendship forever as a shining example, in our community.

On Tuesday Night (please RSVP today!) and Wednesday morning,  let us honor our Torah Brides, Olga and Cookie and we celebrate the freedom and whisper of hope that the shadow of fear finally departs, that the grim lessons of October 7th be learned and applied so that never again means never again, that healing comes, that in the words of the old Israeli song, Oyev hofech L’Ohev,  enemies might become friends, that in the words of Isaiah, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation will not lift up sword against nation and neither will they learn war anymore.”

House of Israel- Let us walk in the Light of HaShem.