Rabbi's Blog

Shalom Chevrei Tifereth Israel,

Since October 7th, and the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the recurring message has been, “Bring them Home.” Hearts and minds have been consumed with the desire to bring home those who were taken hostage during that horrible attack and with that, bring an end to the war in Gaza.

Over the last few months, there were positive signs that a deal for a ceasefire was near but there were many setbacks. I’d go into a Shabbat thinking that we would hear good news after Havdalah or go to bed some nights expecting to see a headline in the morning that a deal was reached. Unfortunately, time after time, the good news didn’t come. For one reason or another, whether from the Israelis or from Hamas, the deal did not happen.

Today, it finally appears that we will see the completion of a deal and will start seeing hostages returning home next week. I still cannot allow myself to let down my emotional guard. I will enter this Shabbat knowing that there are those who do not want this deal to take place. They want to continue the war and are content to allow our Israeli brothers and sisters to be held in Gaza or they don’t desire the end of the war and will continue to see their Palestinian friends and family fall under the bombs from Israel. These voices and these parties must not be allowed to overtake those who are working for peace and desire an end to the war.

While I still hold my breath, I enter Shabbat believing that the Israeli government will ratify the deal and that it will start to be implemented on Sunday. Hostages will start to come home slowly over the next few months. But along with heightened expectation will come disappointment. The moments in between each release will seem like an eternity. Just as this past week, and truly the past 16 months, those constantly watching their phones for news updates that don’t come, or news updates that dash the hope we were feeling an hour or a day before, will feel dejected by these disappointments. The expectation and disappointment ahead is also based in the uncertainty baked into the deal. While there is a list of those being released in the first phase of this agreement we don’t know the order of their return. We also don’t know who is coming home alive and whose families will have the pain of mourning and needing to arrange for a funeral.

We will continue to pray for the return of all hostages with the extension of this ceasefire and to pray for peace so all of those who have been affected by the war can begin to heal and rebuild their lives.

As we have since October 7th, we will continue to add a special prayer before the prayer for Israel. Tomorrow, in our service, I will share the following prayer by Alden Solovy, a modern poet and liturgist.

May we all be blessed to see the return of all the hostages and a future of peace.
Rabbi Werbow
 
~Loose the Angels of Peace~
 by Alden Solovy
​​​​​​​
God of eternity,
I am afraid
To allow hope
Into my heart
Or joy
Into my soul.
 
How I long
To see our hostages released.
How I yearn
For the captives to be redeemed.
How I pray
For the kidnapped to be free.
 
Prepare my heart
To receive our loved ones,
Released from the tunnels,
With the fullness of compassion and joy,
Even as You require that my heart
Stay broken
For those who remain in captivity
And to mourn the lost.
 
God of history,
Open the gates of freedom
For the innocent.
Wash away their pain
With a river of healing.
Wash away their nightmares
With the secret light
That You stored upon creation
For the righteous.
 
Source and Shelter,
Let loose the angels of peace.
For certainly they, too,
Must be held in captivity.
Then, God of life,
Hope will flow unbound,
And songs of rejoicing
Will shatter the heavens,
When the words of the prophet
Are fulfilled:
וְיֵשׁ־תִּקְוָ֥ה לְאַחֲרִיתֵ֖ךְ נְאֻם־ה’ וְשָׁ֥בוּ בָנִ֖ים לִגְבוּלָֽם׃
 And there is hope for your future, declares Adonai,
Your children shall return to their country.
 
Amen
 
 
 

Tifereth Israel Congregation
7701 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20012
202-882-1605 | info@tifereth-israel.org

​​​​​​​www.tifereth-israel.org ​​​​​​​