As the saying goes in Hebrew, “ayn milim—there are no words.” The number of times I’ve muttered “I can’t even believe this” since October 7 could easily number in the thousands. And yet, here we are.

I mentioned last week I’ve been keeping in regular contact with my host mom from an Israel program in the mid-90’s (any Otzma alumni out there?). She asked that I share parts of our recent conversation, which I will gladly do, since finding my own words about everything happening in our world today is challenging, to say the least:

Me: “I truly hope you aren’t seeing the reaction here—it’s absolutely insane. I cannot believe what I’m seeing and hearing….”

Ya’ara: “I don’t have to see it or hear it. I live it. They can say anything they want. Let them come and live here…for only 2 days even…What do you think they will say? Maybe their boy or girl will be [lists many, many terrible things that have been perpetrated on hostages and victims of this war that I will not list here]….or murdered. What do you think they will say then??? Here in Israel we are so deep in it, we don’t care about anything that people say about us. We want to see all 229 hostages back in Israel safe and healthy (all of them). And to see all of Hamas gone!!!”

So there you have it, from a proud Israeli woman who has rockets flying overhead every day (most of which are, thankfully, intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system); who has shrapnel landing on the school basketball court in her small town; and who is awakened (if she is able to sleep at all) by sirens telling her and her family to get to their safe room immediately. This is daily life in Israel.

And yet. Ya’ara’s next message to me was the text of Yair Lapid’s speech to the Israeli people on October 27, titled “Do Not Despair,” in which he talks about Israel’s future. In a nutshell, and all while acknowledging the systemic failures and the trust that must be rebuilt, he says: Israel has been here before, they’ve come out stronger, and will do that again now. In other words, Am Yisrael Chai.

So what we can do in our little corner of the world? This week, we will continue to build support for American Friends of Magen David Adom—click here to donate to them directly, but if you’d also like some challah (psst…don’t forget about our Challah for Donation program), keep scrolling to order for local pickup or delivery this Friday, November 3.

As always, I thank you sincerely for being my partner in doing good. This is all so surreal, and I’m beyond grateful for your continued support. With that, I wish you—and ALL of us—a peaceful week,

Joanna