Dear Friend,
The war in Israel is personal for every Jew. Every Jew is a brother and sister. And we all care and love each other. And I just saw that personal connection become even more apparent to me.
Last week, along with Jews everywhere, I read with relief of the release of Judith Raanan of Evanston, Ill. But it was only later that I learned that she had been an active participant at a Shabbat meal I was part of last Chanukah at her hometown Chabad House.
And then there is Hersh Polin-Goldberg, the gentle boy whose mother spoke at the UN about how he had been dragged into captivity in Gaza with his arm blown off. The name Goldberg is quite common, but I discovered that his grandmother, Marcy Goldberg, was the subject of a Chabad.org feature I’d written. Marcy is one of the kindest people in the world. For decades, she volunteers regularly, delivering Shabbat candles, grape juice, and challah on behalf of Chabad to Jewish patients in hospitals, and in her middle age, took in a family of inner-city kids.
While these drove home for me how connected we are, the soul connections exist whether we know it or not. We are one family, praying for each other, fighting for each other, and doing all we can—and more!—for each other.
Please G‑d, hear our prayers. Please repay Marcy and her family for her goodness, please hear the prayers of the hostages and their families, along with those of all Jews and our friends everywhere, and may we hear only good news from the Holy Land and beyond!
Menachem Posner
Managing Editor
