The global Jewish community continues to grieve following yesterday’s news that Hamas cannot identify and return forty living Israeli hostages that meet the proposed ceasefire exchange criteria, specifically women and ill or elderly men. This suggests that more hostages may have perished than previously revealed.This tragic news serves as a stark reminder of the dual threats facing Israel at this very moment—the pressing need to safeguard its western border as well as the imminent need to recover Israeli citizens still held captive in Gaza. Only by accomplishing the former may Israel know peace—Shalom. Only by accomplishing the latter may Israel once again know wholeness—Shleimut.Derived from the same Hebrew root, shalem, peace and wholeness represent two equally significant components of the harmony we wish for everyone. And so, as Israel and Hamas determine their next steps, we steadfastly continue to pray that all Israel quickly realizes both shalom and shleimut.— Rabbi Josh Knobel

“Following the Israelites’ escape from Egypt at the Sea of Reeds, the ministering angels began to sing, but the Holy One interrupted them, stating, ‘My Creations [the Egyptians] are drowning in the sea, and you want to sing?’”— BT Megillah 10BThis midrash, recited each year during the reading of the Passover Haggadah, reminds us of the immeasurable value that Judaism places upon human life. According to the sages, even the most infamous oppressors of the Israelites deserve human dignity in defeat.Unfortunately, in a world prone to casting every action as a moral referendum, it becomes too easy to dehumanize our adversaries. After all, if we consider our cause morally just (which we typically do!), then anyone who opposes our cause must, therefore, be morally unjust.However, this is a blatant and, often pernicious, misrepresentation. People and civilizations remain incalculably complex. Disagreement on a certain topic, even one of grave significance, typically [...]

As war between Israel and Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip, many observers, including Israeli citizens, have begun to lose patience with a campaign that, at its onset, promised to restore security to Israel’s Western border following the attacks of October 7. To do so, the Israeli government contended, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would be required to dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities in their entirety. Unfortunately, achieving this laudable goal requires contending with one of the most sophisticated tunnel networks in the history of modern warfare, a challenge that plays directly into Hamas’ military and political strategies. Prior to the war, the IDF estimated that Hamas owned and operated three-hundred miles of tunnels. These estimates proved woefully inaccurate. January estimates place that figure at closer to 450 miles, with depths surpassing even the wildest assumptions, containing more than five thousand entry shafts, placed strategically underneath hospitals, schools, mosques, and private [...]

“Thus shall Adonai judge among the nations and make peace among the great peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation, not shall they ever again know war.” – Isaiah 4:3 Our community, alongside the world, continues to mourn the tragic deaths of the seven World Central Kitchen employees—Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Laizawmi Frankcom, Damian Soból, Jacob Flinkinger, John Chapman, James Henderson, and James Kirby—killed by three successive IDF drone missile strikes last week. As media outlets rushed to suggest, this tragedy, as well as the death of nearly 200 aid workers since the conflict began, points to excessive permissiveness in the rules of engagement employed by certain IDF teams on the battlefield, which legitimately demanded further investigation and scrutiny, undertaken by the IDF last week. As intended, the Israeli investigation identified who, against all [...]