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“Ma Navu Al HeHarim/ Raglei Hamevaser

Mashmiyah Yeshuah/   Mashmiyah Shalom.

How welcome on the mountain are the footsteps of the herald

Announcing happiness, proclaiming peace.”            

                                                                                                --- Isaiah 52: 7

These are among my favorite lines in all of Tanach.  And that’s with or without the music it is set to, or the accompanying folk dance!

What a gorgeous, lyrical and comforting picture the prophet Isaiah paints.  But this week, his words are enough to break our already broken hearts.

We lost a bridge builder this week.  We lost a peacemaker, and a teacher and an extraordinarily brave one who escaped the Nova Music Festival on October 7, and was kidnapped by Hamas when he returned to the site in an attempt to rescue more people.

We have lost six beautiful souls whose lives brimmed with potential, who endured the horror of their captivity with what hope they could muster.  This tragedy – this aberration – is felt most keenly among their families and friends.  And alongside this truth is another one: “Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh BaZeh.   All Jews are responsible for one and other.”  Dating back to Talmudic times, this is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness.  Our joy, our grief, our pain – it all matters beyond itself and ourselves.

Tonight we will come together for Shabbat services at 7:00, with the inclusion of poetic and liturgical tribute to these six of our own.  Please see below, and we hope to see YOU tonight!

Shabbat Shalom,

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September 4, 2024

Dear TBD Family,

We are all reeling as we absorb the news of the six Israeli hostages murdered so heartbreakingly and horrifically.  This Friday September 6 at our 7:00pm service, in addition to welcoming Shabbat, we will pay tribute to these beautiful souls through liturgy and poetry in their memory.

May the lives and legacies of Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi and Hersh Goldberg-Polin forever be a blessing.