Dear Friends:
Last night in our Pirkei Avot class, we were studying the famous maxim of Hillel, “do not separate yourself from the community” and I noted that we are indeed a worldwide family. I said that “there are 14 million of us throughout the world and we are all crying today for those two little redheaded boys.”
It was only after our class ended that I learned that Hamas had sunken to a level of depravity even lower than anything that they had done before. The forensics institute in Israel found that, while three of the bodies returned yesterday were indeed Ariel and Kfir Bibas (4 years old and 9 months old when kidnapped, respectively), the fourth body was not that of their mother Shiri Bibas, but rather an unknown female resident of Gaza. Hamas claims that there was some sort of mixup and that these are the remains of a woman who was killed in the same airstrike that killed Shiri Bibas and hers sons. It should also be noted that the Israeli forensic exams do not agree with Hamas’ claims that the Bibas family was killed by an Israeli airstrike and indicate that the two boys were murdered by hand, with no weapons, about a month after they were kidnapped. And on their coffins were signs noting October 7 as their “date of arrest.” What crime can a nine-month-old have committed that warrants his “arrest” and subsequent murder? The crime of being a Jewish baby!
I have found that for many of our friends and neighbors who are not Jewish, as sympathetic as they may be, they do not understand that for many of us Israel is not just some country far away that we care about. We really are a worldwide family:
* Shiri Bibas’ aunt and uncle are congregants and faithful Shabbat attendees at a Conservative shul where the rabbi is a good friend of mine;
* Released hostage Keith Siegel grew up at Beth El Synagogue in Durham, NC, where a very close friend and mentor, Rabbi Steve Sager of blessed memory, was the rabbi for several decades;
* The father of released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen and I have many many close friends and colleagues in common;
* Back in the 1980s, I was one of the editors of the English supplement of the Israeli newspaper for which the fourth returned murdered hostage, Oded Lifshitz, was a columnist;
* As I’ve mentioned previously, the grandson of one of my rabbinical school professors was murdered on October 7.
I’m sure that many of you also have connections to people who were and continue to suffer because of the brutal war launched by Hamas on October 7. This is not just another “issue” for us; this is family.
May Shiri Bibas be speedily brought home so she may have the dignity of a proper burial next to her beautiful redheaded boys. May all the hostages, living and dead, be brought home speedily, and may we all, all of us, finally figure out a way to live together without killing each other.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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