Never forget. Those two words, weighted with history and heritage were seared into me as a child.
I can still hear the solemn voice of my childhood Rabbi whose thunderous High Holiday sermons referencing the Holocaust declared “Never Forget,” sentiments echoed by my Hebrew school teachers and parents.
For nearly eighty years we have not forgotten those six million Jews slaughtered by Hitler during the Holocaust. It is our obligation to remember them.
To never forget they were someone’s child,
Mother,
Father,
Cousin,
Brother,
Teacher,
Someone’s friend.
Never Forget
Today amid the horrors of an escalating war in the Middle East, let us never forget the hostages still being held by Hamas.
One year ago Hamas terrorists orchestrated an unconscionable attack on Israel resulting in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
More than 1,200 men, women, and children were brutally slaughtered-
Daughters
Sons
Sisters
Brothers
Wives
Husbands
Someone’s Friend.
Never Forget
251 were taken hostage 35 of whom are known to be killed.
Kidnapped by Hamas a year ago as the group rampaged through Southern Israel dragging them back to the Gaza Strip, to be hidden in tunnels, starved of food, deprived of clean water and medicine. Abused.
Of the original 251 hostages more than 100 were freed during Israeli Hamas cease-fire in November. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces.
Six were executed at close range
A total of 97 hostages remain unaccounted for including 4 Americans.
Men
Women
Babies
Elderly
Never Forget
The Hamas infiltration on October 7, 2023, unprecedented in modern Israel’s seventy-six-year history triggered a cataclysmic war.
It’s been an intolerable year for Israeli hostage families. A year without a daughter, son, father, sister, brother, friend.
A year of unbearable fear, hate, and anxiety.
A year of not knowing if their loved ones are alive or dead.
How are they holding up?
How are they being treated?
The unknowing is unbearable, its own form of torture.
Never forget
The war threatens to ignite a wider regional war conflict.
Among all the bombings and killings, and the tragedy of 41,000 Palestinians killed.
In Gaza whole families and neighborhoods are wiped out.
Hostages are still being held.
Never Forget
A year of little light.
A year of indescribable agony.
I’m devastated for those still trapped in Hamas’ tunnels and for families waiting.
We must keep fighting. We must bring them home. We must Never Forget.
And as Jews, we must also say,
Never Again.
