IKAR

In LA County and California, IKAR has endorsed YES or NO votes on 6 ballot measures that reflect our shared values and are important for us to speak out about. https://lnkd.in/gFmKARNM

As soon as Yom Kippur ends, we move from the realm of the soul and plant our feet firmly back on the ground for Sukkot. For seven days we eat (and for some, sleep) in a sukkah, a makeshift hut that is just susceptible enough to the elements to remind us of our vulnerability and also the blessings of security. Please join us for Sukkot Services tomorrow, 10/17 and Friday, 10/18 at 9:30am at Shalhevet or on YouTube.

A Hope Born From the Depths of Sorrow - Rabbi Sharon Brous - Rosh Hashanah I, 5785 Watch Here: https://lnkd.in/e8cdgmgq Hope doesn’t die, and despair is a privilege we cannot afford.

On Joy - Alex Edelman & Rabbi Brous - Rosh Hashanah II, 5785 Watch Here: https://lnkd.in/ez-qUSWC Text study and conversation between Alex Edelman and Rabbi Sharon Brous on the Torah of Joy, and the Power, Promise, and Necessity of Laughter in Dark Times.

Today I pray—with an aching, anguished, and still ever-hopeful heart—for those who remain in captivity, now for a full year. Until every one is home—כולנו חטופים—we are all held hostage. I pray for those who have suffered unimaginable loss—so many innocent worlds destroyed—may the memory of our beloveds be a blessing and a revolution. And I pray that we keep faith in a better future. I know that there is another way— we can and must build the conditions for a just and enduring peace so that all people, created in the image of the Holy One, can truly thrive. - Rabbi Sharon Brous

This week at IKAR 🗓 ikar.org/events/?calendar

For 330 days, since the atrocities of October 7 and throughout the horrific months of violence, trauma, and uncertainty that followed, the families of Israeli hostages have refused to give up hope that their loved ones would return home alive. Many of them have insisted—desperately and ceaselessly—that only a deal would secure their return. That more war meant more dead. That the longer a deal was delayed, the greater the danger—to their loved ones, to Palestinian innocents, to us all. Last night we learned that six of the hostages, who survived nearly a year in Hamas captivity, were murdered in a tunnel in Rafah. They did not “die” as some news outlets are reporting. They were, it has now been confirmed, shot by Hamas at close range, executed in cold blood, so as not to be rescued by approaching IDF troops. Their names are Hersh Goldberg-Polin—friend and family to many in our community, Carmel Gat, Alex Lobanov, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi. They were young people, loved deeply in this world. They should be alive today, home with their families. Our hearts break for them, and for their loved ones… each one, a world. The pain for their families-- especially after 11 months of heartache-- is unimaginable. AND, being heartbroken and devastated is not enough. It is not only the families of the captives who have been screaming from the mountaintops that no military force can bring the hostages back safely. The heads of Israeli security and intelligence services have been pleading with Netanyahu for months to reach a deal and get the hostages home. Senior officials warned the Prime Minister of precisely this scenario—but he recklessly and repeatedly ignored them. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets on this day of agony and indignation, coming at the end of a year of agony and indignation. We must hear those who are most proximate to the pain, and use our moral voices to amplify their call to end this terrible war. There must be a deal to bring the remaining hostages home. Neither the people of Israel, nor the people of Gaza, deserve this endless anguish. May the memories of Hersh, Carmel, Alex, Eden, Ori and Almog reverberate as a blessing in this world for generations to come, inspiring us to strive always toward greater humanity. Toward peace. - Rabbi Sharon Brous #BringThemHome #hostagesandmissingfamiliesforum

We enter 5785 in a moment of reflection and renewal, aware of the urgency of the challenges that we face as a people, a nation, and a world. This year, our spiritual check-in carries even deeper weight. In the midst of so much uncertainty, we gather to dream, to mourn, to find renewed hope, and to hold each other close. https://lnkd.in/gZjN6Mj3

You see how we post what's going this week at IKAR every week? Very demure. RSVP @ www.ikar.org/calendar

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