OPINION:
Last week, on Rosh Hashanah, Jews around the world paused to welcome a new year. We looked back with gratitude for the blessings we had received, with sorrow for the losses we had endured and with honesty about the ways we had fallen short. Then we looked forward.
But beginning again does mean forgetting what came before.
We carry the memories of the past year with us: the names of those we lost, families whose lives were changed forever and communities that endured unimaginable hardship. We carry the images of war and suffering, but also those of extraordinary courage.
In Jewish tradition, remembrance is not passive. To remember is to take responsibility.
We cannot know what will happen in the coming year. But we can determine how we respond. We can stand with the vulnerable, vulnerable, defend the dignity of the forgotten, speak up when hatred grows and bring light into places that seem impossibly dark.
Last year, I saw that light over and over again — in the generosity of people who refused to look away from suffering, in communities caring for their children, elderly, families and neighbors despite tremendous hardship and in the Jewish people’s extraordinary determination to remain connected across oceans and borders.
I saw it also in the friends and supporters of The Fellowship. Every act of generosity told those we served: You are not alone. Your life matters.
Rosh Hashanah is often described as the birthday of the world. What a beautiful thought: to enter a new year believing that renewal is possible for us and the rest of the world.
Last week, we prayed for peace, healing and the safety of Israel and the Jewish people. We prayed for those still suffering, for families still waiting and for communities still rebuilding. We prayed that Rosh Hashanah would renew our sense of purpose, that the year ahead would find us not merely hoping for more light, but willing to become that light for someone else.
And we prayed that we would all be written and sealed for a year of peace, blessing, health and renewed hope. Shana Tovah.
YAEL ECKSTEIN
President and global CEO, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
Modi’in, Israel
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