Kiddush in a Cup    

On Simchas Torah 2023, the illusion of control was shattered and a wave of emunah swept across the land, as Jews all over began to reconnect with their core identity. And then, Hashem drew me into the saga as well, allowing me to stand alongside survivors and hostage families in their darkest hours, to visit the destroyed communities, and to participate in shabbatons and other events. And then came the book — not a rehashing of the news, but a story that will be etched in the gold letters of Jewish history, deepening the bonds that connect us to one another and to our Father in Heaven.
With the release of the remaining hostages, many of the stories have since had a happy ending, while others have ended in tragedy. Either way, it’s my privilege to continue to share them with you.

When chaos strikes, inner truth is revealed: No matter how connected or disconnected, we are a nation of anshei chesed. People like Binyamin Shimoni Hy”d, who, after fleeing from the unfolding massacre with four frantic strangers in his car, dropped them off at the entrance to Be’er Sheva and rushed back to the chaos to save more people. He crammed eight more people into his car and brought them to safety in Netivot. He returned yet a third time, amid whistling missiles and flying bullets, but at the Alumim Junction, he was shot and killed.

Or take Rom Braslavski — Rom ben Tamar —  who was freed from captivity last week after 738 days of torture and starvation for refusing to convert to Islam.

Rom could have been sitting with his family in Jerusalem instead of being violently abused in a Gaza dungeon, but his sense of responsibility didn’t let him walk away in the face of danger. During the terrorist incursion, he refused to flee, sure that as long as he could help others, he had no right to abandon them. He covered wounded people with trash so Hamas wouldn’t spot them, and even after being shot himself, he hid two bodies to prevent them from being taken. It was in the middle of these acts of chesed that he was taken to Gaza.

On Simchas Torah of 5784, HaKadosh Baruch Hu had a conversation with some of His children who had been less connected with Him. They couldn’t be expected to demonstrate mesirus nefesh for Shabbos or tefillin, but Jews are intrinsically rachmanim, bayshanim, and gomlei chasadim — compassionate, modest, and kind, with an extraordinary capacity for self-sacrifice in order to help others.