An Ending, A Beginning
On October 7, 2023, I was at Disney World with my family when I awoke to messages that Hamas terrorists had attacked Israel.
One year earlier, during my 27th trip to Israel, I visited Kfar Aza, a kibbutz that was brutally attacked. Were the people I met still alive? What about the therapy animals that comforted traumatized residents on the Gaza border? Rockets from Gaza weren’t unordinary. But this was much different.
Three years later, the fear and uncertainty from that day have not passed.
Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., poignantly noted that October 7 was “cultivated in an ideology that believes killing Jews is admirable and that there is no place for an Israel, any Israel.” As the recent FlyDubai terrorist attack and the alarming rise of global antisemitism grimly illustrates, that hatred threatens Jewish communities everywhere.
In every generation, our allies have played a critical role. Today is no different.
The October 7th attack fell on Simchat Torah, one of Judaism’s most joyous holidays. Each year, we complete the annual cycle of Torah reading. We return to the beginning carrying forward the values and responsibilities entrusted to us by previous generations.
We have a responsibility to remember those murdered on October 7th and to speak boldly whenever Jewish lives are threatened. We must also teach the next generation that Judaism means more than simply surviving whoever hates us today. It means building community, pursuing justice, and choosing, relentlessly, to bring light to a dark world.
To those who’ve stood with the Jewish people these past three years: We see you, we thank you, and we hope you’ll continue standing with us.
October 7 was intended to be an ending. Instead, let us together make it the beginning of a brighter future for all.