Honorable Mensch-ion

This morning at the daily minyan, in addition to reading Megilat Esther, we read the Torah reading for Purim.

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For the last week, as a member of the initial Voice of The People Council presented by the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, I met the most interesting people. The council was presented with the major challenges facing the Jewish world today–polarization within, Israel-Diaspora Relations, Jewish and non-Jewish relations, and antisemitism. We worked diligently not to propose a solution but to dig deep into understanding the problems. It was exhausting recognizing that more important than finishing the work is being actively engaged with it.

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I write to you from the El Al airplane en route to participate in the Voice of the People Council, hosted by President Herzog of Israel.

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In May 2024, I visited Kibbutz Nir Oz. Our group met with an October 7th survivor. We walked around a place where families simply lived and loved the people and the land. As we finished our time there, we stopped at the home of the Bibas family. I had seen the pictures on TV, but this was different. We were standing at their front door. I will never forget: The toys turned upside down, the smiles of the pictures posted on the door, and the green grass with scorch marks. In our sanctuary, every Shabbat, I have looked at the pictures of those little boys as we prayed for their return. It is unfathomable and heartbreaking; no words are enough to describe the feeling knowing Ariel and Kfir Bibas, brutally murdered by the bare hands of Hamas along with Oded Lifshitz, are now home in Israel–not in life but in death.

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When the first of the ten commandments says, “I am the Lord Your God,” the concluding part of that statement reads, “The one who took you out of the land of Egypt.”

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One of the beautiful moments of daily prayer by our students in both Sinai Akiba Academy and Sinai Temple Religious School is when they sing the prayer ozi vzimrat yah, an essential verse in the Song of The Sea, that the Israelites sang as they went from slavery to freedom. Onkelos, who translates the Torah from Hebrew to Aramaic, explains it means, “God is my might and my praise.”

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The first mitzvah for the collective Jewish people–sanctifying the moon–is found in this week’s parsha. This law is followed by the rituals of the Seder; in particular the maror, bitter herbs.

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As we begin to read the first of the ten plagues, we see a contradiction in the Torah. At the start of Parashat Vaera, God tells the people that they will be taken out of the depths of slavery. It is hard to imagine during the most difficult times of one’s life that they will one day see and experience freedom.

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An unfathomable week. Utter devastation. This is what we experienced in Los Angeles. At the same time, we were treated with love, kindness, empathy, and unbounded generosity that I have never witnessed in my life. For so many disasters around the world, it was our community who would send help into harm’s way. Yet, this was different. This time, we have been the receivers of help. Last night, at a press conference hosted by Sinai Temple, Los Angeles Fire Chiefs and Police Chiefs all told the gathered crowd that while the world has seen tragedy appear before their eyes, we have also seen many signs of triumph.

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I write these words on the way to Jerusalem from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, having just witnessed the devastation of kibbutz Kefar Azzah firsthand—and having just heard the news of the fires devastating Los Angeles secondhand. Suffice it to say, my heart aches for our families and our Family, our people and our People. I pray that you and your homes are safe and intact. I pray that those who have been evacuated and displaced return home soon—to Pacific Palisades, to Kefar Azzah, to communities across the North of Israel. I pray that the hostages still in captivity return home now.

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