Hostages, Martin Luther King Day, Inauguration Day 2025 thoughts (Mon Jan 20, 2025)
The note I sent to the United Synagogue of Hoboken community on Friday (also pasted below) focused on the mixed emotions of this week. If anything, the blend of contradictory emotions has become even more intense since I wrote the words below on Friday. Seeing freed hostages Emily Damari, Romi Gonen, and Doron Steinbrecher reunited with their families brings remarkable joy, even as it is horrifying to think of what they have endured, and the fate of those who are yet to be freed. That the hostages’ freedom could be assured only by trading them for convicted terrorists serving life sentences is devastating and dangerous. And yet the deal has broad support in Israel, with many people holding that it would be even more devastating and dangerous if the hostages were not released. Our prayers are with the hostages who have been freed, those who remain in captivity, and their families and communities. Today (Monday, January 20) is Martin Luther King Day, when we ...