Last month, I closed my chapter with @ujafedny , the experience of a lifetime. It took me time to reflect. Iranian missiles were crossing the sky. A war without end. Not an easy backdrop for goodbyes.
UJA embodies what I believe are Judaism’s most beautiful values: lovingkindness, the repair of the world, and the dignity of every human being. In the hardest of times, these weren’t abstract ideals. They were the compass that guided us through one of the most difficult moments in Jewish history.
We stood with border communities, evacuated and shattered, within hours of the attacks, when the government was nowhere to be found. We were with the hostage families from the very first day and stayed until the last hostage came home, ensuring the Hostage Forum had what it needed to keep fighting. We showed up for Arab and Druze communities caught in the crossfire. We supported Nova survivors through unprecedented trauma, backing bold initiatives with no guaranteed outcome. And we stood with Gazans facing a humanitarian catastrophe, a courageous and consequential decision made with conviction. All of this while continuing the enduring work of the organization: fighting for a more equal, just, and democratic Israel.
Sometimes we could help. Sometimes all we could do was bear witness, to stand with those no one else was standing with.
At the heart of all this were its people. The most selfless, extraordinary individuals I’ve ever had the privilege of working alongside. Together, we brought a little light into one of the darkest times. As I step into a new chapter, I will miss you all deeply.
Last week we met Einav Zangauker to commemorate the closing of the hostage forum and to mark @ujafedny support of @bringhomenow over the past two years. A moment that I doubted many times would ever happen.
Working together with the Forum to support the families has been, and will always be, the honor of a lifetime for me.
Much has been said about Trump’s role in reaching a deal, about the mediators, about the politics. But the only reason Einav is now reunited with her son is because of the people, working together here and in the diaspora, to bring them home. Some protested, others volunteered, and others dedicated two years of their lives to this struggle.
In the second picture are some of these silent heroes @assiashafrir@daniel_lifshitz1 , Tomer and @tova.dorfman . We witnessed together as the hostage clock was closed, never to be turned on again.
Last week, we had the privilege of meeting MK @mansourabbas.me as part of our work building bridges between NY elected officials and Union leaders and Israeli stakeholders. In my view, he is a brave leader who represents the only viable path forward for Israelis and Palestinians. As a deeply conservative man, a Muslim, a Palestinian, and an Israeli, Abbas is perhaps one of the few leaders in the region capable of holding the full complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He not only condemned the October 7th attacks but was profoundly shaken by the wave of terror, killings, and kidnappings carried out by Hamas. At the same time, he knows firsthand what it means to lose friends and family in Gaza. He feels the pain on both sides. Yet he is also one of the rare voices willing to move beyond pain, resentment, and historical grievances to focus on building a future.
This is why Abbas does not support the BDS movement. It is also why his Islamic party was the first to join a governing coalition in Israel. He chooses action over grievance.
Recently, he and his team launched a new initiative to revive the peace process. Most Palestinians and Israelis do not support such a process—or, more precisely, they fear it. When presented with these statistics, Abbas’s response, which captures both his pragmatism and his vision, is simple: That’s why leaders are needed—to pave the way, to convince, to act.
Our hearts ached but are lungs filled with hope at this meeting, which I will never forget. We met with Jonathan Shimriz @shimrizz who tragically lost his brother after he was kidnapped to Gaza and was driven to create @kumunow , which, among other initiatives, organized the emotional and powerful October 7th memorial for the families. Vered Libsten, who lost her husband and hero, Ofir Libstein, her mother, and her son, and is now leading the recovery efforts in Kibbutz Kfar Azza and the newly established Nirim Center for youth affected by the attacks. And Liora Ben Zur, who tragically lost her mother while recovering from childbirth on October 6th and is now leading @atidlaotef , a social movement advocating for the recovery of the South.
Today is an impossible day. We were this morning at the Nova site at 6:29 am, the place where 400 beautiful souls were viciously murdered, the time when the music stopped.
How can I describe the ceremony, the pain in the air? In the background, we could hear the sounds of a war that a year later continues, explosions, artillery fire, a reminder that 100 hostages remain in Gaza, and the wave of destruction continues.
However, at the ceremony, we could hardly hear a sound. The sorrow of 400 families mourning together combined into a cry so loud that it became a numbing silence, only interrupted by the spontaneous screams of mothers who will never mother again.
I find it hard to believe that so much pain can be transformed into something else, but what alternative do we have?
It was important to be there, to bear witness.
In the pictures:
• Eric Goldstein, CEO of @ujafedny gives a speech of support to the families
• Families set flowers to remember their loved ones
• A song
• A minute of silence
• Ido, who saved the lives of dozens a year ago, next to his house in Kissufim
• A fridge in Kissufim, a year after
We met the Sheik Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Israel to show our support for the community and learn more about their pressing needs.
Since the beginning of the war, thousands of Druze in the North have been living under fire, running for shelter from the more than 4,000 rockets and anti-tank missiles that Hezbollah has launched into the area. It is tragic and bizarre that Hezbollah is attacking the Druze, many of whom have family members in Lebanon; however, precisely because of this, the Druze remain an important bridge between the countries and have been working hard to try to ease tensions in the area.
Strengthening our ties with the Druze community is essential for the future of the North. As the Sheik expressed in our meeting, a crucial step to deepen our relations is canceling the Nation-State Bill (חוק הלאום), which six years after its approval it’s still an open wound in the community.
I’m proud of having hosted representative @ritchietorresny15 in Israel as part of a trip organized by @ujafedny . Torres, a progressive and Democratic congressman, bright and extremely empathetic, is able to articulate what many leaders in Israel, Palestine and the Western world can’t. While he supports a two-state solution, and the right of Palestinians to self-determination, he also understands that there is no bigger enemy of peace than Hamas. He is able to see and mourn the terrible losses of Israelis on October 7th, while also recognizing the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza.
In a highly symbolic act, the first stop of representative Torres was a meeting with the families of the hostages. He also met with Nova survivors, toured Kibbutz Nir Oz where a quarter of the population was either killed or kidnapped, and met with Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid, President Herzog, and the leader of the United Arab List, Mansour Abbas.
In his meeting with Ofir, one of the survivors and producers of the Nova festival, he saw him wearing a tag that was different from the typical Bring Them Home Now tag. He asked him, What does it say? Ofir responded: we will dance again. In an interview later, Torres would say that he feels that this beautifully summarizes the resilience of the survivors: “It’s a story that says, We will dance again.”
Credit: Mooli Goldberg
War in Metula: the northernmost town in Israel. While the threat of war in the North with Hezbollah grows, for the residents of Metula the war started four months ago, immediately after the October 7th attacks.
Since then, more than 100 houses have been hit by Hezbollah and dozens destroyed. All of the village residents have been internally displaced, and are now living in hotel rooms, many unemployed, and facing an uncertain future.
The beautiful synagogue, which predates Israel, is now a military outpost. This village, a place of galleries, culture and natural beauty, is now a destroyed ghost town.
