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Dear WRT Family:
This image depicts the Hostage Clock in Tel Aviv that has been counting the days, hours, minutes, even seconds, since the devastating attacks of October 7th, 2023. With the return of the last hostage from Gaza, Ran Gvili z"l, whose body was recovered from Gaza City in an IDF-led operation earlier this week, we can now declare that no hostages remain in captivity in Gaza for the first time since 2014.
The clock has stopped ticking; a chapter of unfathomable trauma has come to an end. Now it is time to move forward with vision and resolve to demand, and work toward, a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike, and for all who dream of peace.
As we contemplate this moment in Jewish history, falling the same week that the world observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), we acknowledge both the price, and the prize, of being Jewish today. 81 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, we feel grave concern over the rise in global antisemitism. We can see with our own eyes how many, even now, aim to silence and suppress our Jewish voices with violence and terror. We inhabit a world that is failing, even now, to learn from history that wherever Jews are victimized and disenfranchised, entire societies are morally degraded.
Thank you for being part of our WRT congregation. Here, we work tirelessly to model a community of hope, love, and unwavering commitment to the flourishing of the Jewish people and the human family.
- Rabbi Jonathan Blake
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