Daily Letter 1: A Seismic Shift

Dear KI Community,

Like everyone who reads this message, I am shaken to my core.

Someone in our community recently defined a reality-upending experience as something that has a before and an after. This is clearly such a seismic moment for our people.

As we all struggle to cope with the ongoing horror inflicted by the barbaric and venomous Hamas terrorist group, it seems important to try and stay focused.

Three realms feel most urgent: 

  1. The pain of mourners and the trepidation of those with family-members in captivity;
  2. The responsibility we shoulder to act for the welfare of our people and our homeland;
  3. How we care for ourselves and those around us.

Beginning today, I intend to bring a daily message to our community. Below are two pieces that have informed my current perspective. The first speaks to the head, the second to the heart. Feel free to share them, particularly with those friends of our people who may not have ready-access to the platforms from which they originate. They are:

  1. A Wounded Weakened Israel is a Fiercer One
  2. Bring Back My Children: An Israeli Mother’s Plea

I am also including action items: a way to come together as a community, and two ways to contribute:

  1. Congregation Mishkan Tefila-hosted campus gathering Tuesday night — October 10 — at 7:30PM. Evening Services are at 7:00PM. All at: 384 Harvard Street, Brookline.
  2. Donate to Israeli American Council’s Support Israel Fund. Donate now.
  3. PayPal donations to a downtown Tel Aviv synagogue to immediately go to the relocated and the struggling. Donate now.

In the coming days, you can look forward to content that will speak to our spirits and our hearts, and offer concrete steps and actions that will bring us together around core questions and help guide us in how to talk to our kids and to each other as we do all we can to make each day a little less-bad going forward.

“As for our sisters and brothers of the whole house of Israel who are in distress or captivity, may God almighty lead them from darkness to light, from oppression to freedom. Speedily and soon – and let us say Amen.”

Am Yisreal Chai,
Rabbi Bill Hamilton