Shabbat Shalom ~ Vayetze 2024

Don’t miss Shabbat 101 Saturday morning at 10:15 in the library. The program will end in time for the sermon in the sanctuary, which will be held until the end of that service. 

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Shalom WJC Family,

Today is day 427 of the longest day in the history of the Jewish people. The terrible day of October 7, 2023 just cannot come to a close while hostages are still being held captive after being kidnapped to Gaza. On day 423 I, along with all the members of the Midway Jewish Center, received the following message from my dear colleague Rabbi Joel Levinson:

Omer, a 21-year-old American-Israeli, served as a platoon commander in the IDF Armored Corps. It has been confirmed by the IDF, based on intelligence, that he was killed in battle on Oct. 7 and his body has been held hostage in Gaza.

For 423 days Omer’s parents fought with every fiber of their being to bring him home. Alive. This news is so very painful.

Throughout these months, we lit candles, recited Psalms, prayed with fervent hope, and raised our voices in solidarity, yearning for his safe return alongside the other hostages. In this moment of deep sorrow, we send our love and heartfelt condolences to Orna, Ronen, Daniel, and the entire family.

Please G-d, let Omer’s body be returned so he can finally be laid to rest.

So his family can have a molecule of comfort.

It was a horrifying message to receive. The whole thing is too awful to comprehend. Omer was a Conservative Jew from birth, went to Camp Ramah, and to Solomon Schechter Day School of Long Island. He went to serve in the IDF and intended to return and attend SUNY Binghamton when his service was completed. His story felt so familiar, like he could be a kid any of us knew. Some of us actually did. We pray for Omer’s family, the other hostages, and all of their families. 

We also received the following message from Ofra Hiltzik, Head of School at Solomon Schechter of Long Island: 

Please also mark your calendars for Friday, December 20th for a שלושים/shloshim ceremony to honor Omer. In his memory, we would like our community to learn Tanakh and be able to hold a סיום/siyum on December 20th. You can participate if you click here to sign up to learn a chapter of Tanakh and participate in this act of עילוי נשמה/ilui neshama to elevate Omer’s soul. Please look out for further communication about this event.

There are still many slots open. I hope you will consider joining us and signing up to read just one chapter of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) so that the group completion can be celebrated and dedicated in Omer’s honor. I signed up for Leviticus chapters 4 and 5. Let me know what you pick to read if you sign up.

I myself am heading to Israel on Saturday night and will be gone for one week. I will be co-chairing the International Conference of the professional organization of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, The Rabbinical Assembly. We will be 245 rabbis, rabbinical students, and spouses, from four continents making a point of gathering in Israel during these difficult times. The theme of the conference is Bridging Dreams & Realities. I wanted to share a beautiful Dvar Torah my co-chair, Rabbi Amirit Rosen, wrote for the occasion:

We are so excited to see our dream, or vision, of this conference come to fruition. I will look forward to telling you all about it when I return on Sunday, December 15th. In the meantime, it should be a delightful Shabbat at WJC. Saturday morning will host two baby namings, including a post-bris aliyah by our own Cantor Ethan and Rabbi Shoshi Levin Goldberg to celebrate their new baby boy, the naming of the daughter of Konstantin and Leigh Guberoff, and a 25th anniversary aliyah by the adult bat mitzvah class of 1999. Lots to celebrate!

Then at Shabbat minchah we will celebrate the bat mitzvah of Eliana Rubin, mazal tov to her and her parents Craig and Deborah. There will be one service for everyone in the sanctuary and in the gap between minchah and ma’ariv, non-bat mitzvah attendees will head to the Beit Midrash for some learning.

See you in shul,