I am overjoyed that the Gaza War may be ending and that the hostages will return home soon. May peace finally come to this region and both peoples find their way to peaceful coexistence.
Category: Am Yisrael
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The Dead Child- a prayer from the ashes of October 7
As we remember the horror of October 7 and the aftermath, the words of Menachem Rosensaft bring us a somber resonance. Let this day of remembrance stir us to mercy for the child, not because we doubt our cause, but because we cherish our conscience.
“the dead child
in gaza city
khan younis
rafah
is cried over
with the same tears
by the same God
the same Allah
the same Adonai
as the dead child
in kfar aza
nahal oz
be’eri
…
and it is
for the not yet dead child
palestinian child
israeli child
muslim child
jewish child
that the killing must end
the war must end
the terror must end
the hatred must end”
—Menachem Rosensaft, from Burning Psalms: Confronting Adonai after Auschwitz (Ben Yehuda Press, 2025)
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Shabbat October 3, 2025
On this Shabbat, the day after Yom Kippur,
we mourn the tragic loss of life in Manchester. Every murder tears at our Jewish hearts. But knowing this was done because they were Jews is particularly heartbreaking.Zichronam Livrachah.
Wishing you a peaceful Shabbat.
#BringThemHomeNow
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L’Shana Tova
A timeless bit of Jewish humor from Rabbi Jonathan Kremer
L’Shana Tova u’Metuka!
#BringThemHomeNow
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Shabbat Shalom
As we prepare to welcome Shabbat, let the prayer of Joey Weisenberg help lift you up.
Shabbat Shalom
#BringThemHomeNow
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Shabbat Shalom
This song caught my heart today. Thanks to the Maccabeats for Minyan Man.
With so much divisiveness, it’s good to remember Kol Arevim Zeh laZeh, All Israel is responsible for one another. Each of us is important. Each of us can make a difference. Together, let’s welcome Shabbat and welcome God’s peace.
Shabbat Shalom
#BringThemHomeNow
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Shabbat Shalom – Oseh Shalom
Oseh Shalom, May there be peace for all of us.
Thanks to Cantors Benji Schiller, Azi Schwartz, and Shira Lissek for this beautiful prayer.
Shabbat Shalom
#BringThemHomeNow
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What’s in a name?
Genocide is a highly charged word.
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks, ‘What’s in a name?’ Names are simply labels we use to identify things, but the true nature of those things exists regardless of what we call them. Genocide is a highly charged word. We get so caught up in the word and all of the intense emotional baggage it carries that we forget the underlying tragedy: it is an attempt to understand what is happening in Gaza.
One side calls it a genocide; the other disputes that term, accusing the accusers of deliberately misusing the word, targeting the victims of such an experience as if they were the perpetrators of that very same horror. We get caught up in definitions, a kind of territorialism, claiming ownership of that word, and in doing so, we completely miss the point.
The people suffering in the war in Gaza are truly experiencing pain. It’s not just about numbers—whether it’s one person or many—innocent victims of the Hamas-Israel conflict have died. They go hungry. They are homeless. They are victims. Although I do not trust the statistics from the Gaza Health Ministry, there’s no way to measure the full extent of the carnage accurately, and Hamas’s role in this is dehumanizing Palestinians, echoing what the Nazis did to Jews.
We must navigate this challenging space and find ways to offer humanity and hope that we were denied, and, sadly, to the Palestinians as well. From the ashes of Auschwitz, we proclaimed Never Again. Was this declaration meant only for us? Our Jewish duty to be a light to the nations requires that it not be. We must uphold our tradition’s promise by maintaining our humanity and embracing the virtues of Pirkei Avot (2:5); in a world that has no worthy men, strive to be a man.
Whatever you call it, the war and anguish must end.
Please click to go to the video.
