Rabbi's Corner

Message from the Rabbi

A Message for This Extraordinary Day
Let us begin by reciting this blessing of Shehechiyanu
Hebrew:
 בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה.
Transliteration:
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, shehecheyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higianu la-zman hazeh.
Translation:
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.
Today, our hearts are filled with jubilation. Twenty hostages—twenty precious souls—have returned home. After nearly two years of anguish, of praying and holding our collective breath, we can finally exhale. There is dancing in the streets of Israel, and joy across the Jewish world.
And yet, even as we rejoice, the air is thick with sorrow. We cannot celebrate without remembering the lives lost—the families shattered on October 7, the soldiers who fell in battle, the thousands who will forever bear the physical and emotional scars of terror. For every reunion there is another home left forever empty; for every embrace, a family still waiting for a loved one who will never return.
Our tradition teaches us to turn mourning into joy. But what do we do with the sadness that will never go away? The rabbis once taught that after the destruction of the Temple, musical instruments were no longer played on Shabbat*—a recognition that some losses are woven into our very being. Even in our moments of celebration, we remember what was destroyed.
The tears we shed today carry both the salt of pain and the sweetness of joy. May God grant comfort to the bereaved, healing to the wounded, and peace to all who still wait for redemption. And may our people, at long last, know days when our joy can be complete.

* Since the destruction of the Temple, song has ceased from places of feasting, as it is said: “They shall not drink wine with song” (Isaiah 24:9). Rav Huna said: [This refers] not to singing with the mouth but to singing with instruments. Rav said: To instrumental music. Rav Yosef said: Even singing with the mouth [has diminished]. (Talmud Bavli, Sotah 48a)