Yesterday was Tisha B’Av, the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar, when we mourn the destruction of our Temples and the many losses our people have endured.
Yet Judaism does not leave us sitting among the ruins. In every generation we are called to look toward to rebuild and to hold onto the promise of a better day. עוד לא אבדה תקוותינו, “Our hope is not yet lost.” ✡️
Almost thirty years ago since my divorce when I lost my beautiful home and the family life I had known. The years that followed were difficult, there were days I did not know how I would make it to the next, but my hope never wavered that one day I would find my home again.
Today, as I look across the land that has become my sanctuary, I understand that hope is not passive. It is through our effort and אמונה, faith, that we move through even the narrowest passages until, one day, we find ourselves standing beneath an open sky, saying in awe, “Wow, what a miracle.”
May this Shabbos bring comfort, light and peace to Israel, to the world, and to all who are still finding their way home.
