There are many moments that make me proud to be at Aish. The staff here and all of you are constantly representing us in such a beautiful and inspiring way. Rabbi Daniel Rowe, who although having only joined the Jerusalem team a few months ago, has become Aish’s preeminent Ambassador to the world. Rabbi Rowe and our Director of PR Raphael Poch went to pay respects to the Al-Ziyadne family. Four members of this Israeli Bedouin family were kidnapped on October 7th. Youssef Al-Ziyadne was taken with his three children. Two children, Bilal and Aisha, were returned in an earlier hostage deal and the fate of Youssef and his son Hamza were unknown until recently when their bodies were recovered in a terrorist tunnel.
Rabbi Rowe was invited to be part of an interfaith group of clergy coordinated by Ohr Torah Stone to travel to the Al-Ziyadne’s home in the village of Rahat to console the family. It was a moving afternoon where tears flowed freely. I was proud that Aish was present and could deliver a hug from all of you. It is important as we continue to move forward after the most difficult years of recent memory that we don’t forget how to love and comfort each other.
There is no doubt that the potential deal for our brothers and sisters in captivity has everyone on edge. We have been storming the gates of heaven for the past 15 months beseeching the Almighty for their return. This coupled with the fact that we have fought unprecedented evil around the world has been extremely difficult. Two events this week showed me that there is always a ray of sunlight at the end of every tunnel.
I attended the Algemeiner dinner in New York this past week. My former college roommate and friend Rabbi David Cohen recently became the new CEO. It was an amazing night honoring pro-Israel heroes like Douglas Murray and Erin Molan. Yet there was one speech that stood out for me. That was the address that my good friend David Magerman gave as he and his wife Debra accepted an award for their staunch leadership over the past year.
The Magermans have been very vocal on pulling their support from the University of Pennsylvania due to its tolerance of rampant antisemitism and instead, redirecting their philanthropy to Israel. In David’s speech he spoke so passionately about his faith in G-d. He kept reminding everyone that G-d runs the world and we must continue to have faith in His love for us. What was so beautiful was that the Magermans didn’t just rely on faith in the Almighty. They are his full-on partner. Faith is at its most powerful when we do our part. When we get to a point where it seems we can go no further the Almighty helps us climb to the next level.
After the dinner I traveled to Israel. While there I rented a car and was heading to Aish when I suddenly got a flat tire. As I pulled to the side of the road I was beside myself as I was going to be late to a family celebration. I started to call various numbers and it seemed that no one was able to help. Suddenly I heard a knock on my window. A stranger asked what the problem was. I told him about the flat. He then said he was in his way to dinner when his wife spotted me. He said that it was his honor to help me to complete a mitzvah. He then spent a difficult hour changing my tire. At the end I tried to give him some money which he refused. He said that he wanted the reward in heaven.
I looked up to Heaven and realized how lucky I was to be a Jew. In the end, we are one family. We may fight and argue with one another yet when pressed we always have each other’s back. That is the way I feel about the impending hostage deal. We must focus on the joy of having our brothers and sisters back. We can’t get caught up on the many hypotheticals. The brave heroic IDF fought long and hard to show that the Jewish people will just not tolerate evil. Now we must place ourselves in the hands of our Father in heaven and have faith that he will continue to shower his love upon us.
