Shabbat Shalom ~ Mishpatim 2025

Shalom WJC Family,

This has been a hard week in a long list of hard weeks. Despite many of our suspicions that Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir had been murdered in Gaza many months ago, most of us held on to the thin sliver of hope that they had somehow survived; that Hamas’ reports of their deaths in November of 2023 had been some kind of cruel, psychological warfare. Sadly, while the cruelty part was correct, the hope turned out to be misplaced. 

And so today we are mourning these two beautiful red-haired children and the peace activist Oded Lifshitz, and we are left with only more questions about the fate of Shiri Bibas (at the time of this writing Israel is reporting that what were supposed to be Shiri’s remains were not, in fact, the remains of any one of the hostages.) But we are also grappling with the fact that the kidnapping of these people and so many others could be seen as anything but barbaric and immoral. We are reminded that not only did these sociopathic terrorists commit this egregious crime, but much of the world found ways to justify it, to rationalize it, to sanitize it. We are reminded of the reality that so much of the world, many of whom we once considered allies, is complicit in their deaths.

This moment, these coffins, this stark reminder of the barbarity of the terrorists, brings up many emotions – sadness, anger, rage, disbelief, fear, feeling unmoored, and more. So what now? Judaism teaches us that in sadness and in joy, it is good to be together. One thing we can do to help us grieve and heal is come together. This Shabbat we will have two opportunities to gather together and reflect on different aspects of the situation in Israel. Tonight we have a dinner and Rhythm & Ruach service followed by guest author Liz Hirsh Naftali, whose book Saving Abigail, tells a story similar to Ariel and Kfir’s, but with a much better ending. For more information about Friday night, click here. 

Then on Saturday morning during services we will welcome back Daniel Gradus, cofounder of Project 24 Israel and friend of WJC. Project 24 coordinated the program that helped us bring a dozen families from Kibbutz Reim to WJC in November. In conversation with me, he will be reflecting on current events in Israel, the current situation for the residents of Kibbutz Reim and their current condition, as well as the path forward for Project 24 and Israeli society as a whole.

Throughout Shabbat we will also have the opportunity to sing along with cantorial intern Marc Szechter while Cantor Goldberg’s Parental leave continues.

In this week’s video, I reflect further on the Bibas family and grief in general. Also, last year for Parshat Mishpatim I posted a video entitled, “The Ripple Effect of a Kidnapping.” It seems as relevant today as it was a year ago. You can view it by clicking here.

And for Oded, Ariel, and Kfir we say זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה‎.

May their indecent passing inspire only acts of goodness and decency and may that be their legacy. And may we feel more of the joy of hostages coming home whole and safe, as six more living hostages are slated to come home this Shabbat, may it come to pass and may the healing begin soon for them, their families, the Jewish people, and this broken world.

See you in shul,

RJA