Chevre, this week outside of Israel there is another 3 day Chag into Shabbat. Today is Hoshanah Rabah, the last day of Sukkot. We finish saying Psalm 27, which we have been saying since the start of Elul nearly 2 months ago. Today’s morning prayers were very similar to the festival prayers, but we are able to do work today like the rest of Chol HaMoed (the intermediate days).
Tonight is Simchat Torah and Sheminih Atzeret. We complete reading the Torah on Simchat Torah and Sheminih Atzeret is the day we start to hint at praying for rain, we only start asking for rain in a few weeks when everyone that travelled for the holiday should have gotten home. In Israel these 2 days are pushed together into 1 day. Outside of Israel they are 2 distinct days. And it’s hard to think about restarting the Torah again without thinking about last year’s Simchat Torah. I feel like this has been 1 extended day as we floated from 1 high or low to the next. First learning about what happened and the unity that the crisis created. And the sorrow as we came together to mourn fallen friends, neighbors, and relatives. Like all Israelis, I have been affected this year.
The words that comes to mind about Am Yisrael, the Nation of Israel, this year is resilience and unity. We overcame the problems together. We repelled and dismantled our enemies together. Some supporting the home front. Some on the front lines. Some praying and some going out of their way to help others. We check on our neighbors and on our families when there are sirens. We see the list of who received a siren regularly and we see the list of those who fell in this war.
At work, resilience is about overcoming failures. We talk about Multi-AZ or Multi-Region. Backups and recovery. As I sit here writing this, I have a screen open to our National Emergency Portal and I see alerts of rocket attacks around the country. When we architect for resilience, if a site is down for 30 seconds, usually no one will die. But with our system of alerts, the phone apps, the emergency broadcast messages over the cellular network, the website and over Shabbat and Chag, the quiet channels. These tools save lives every day. We have bomb shelters and we trust that we’ll be alerted when we need to use them.
This week, a group from our town helped a farmer (as part of Leket Yisrael) pack aravot (willow branches) to be used in today’s Hoshanah Rabah prayers. Afterwards, we went to Sderot and saw how far it is from Gaza and the ocean. We saw the new memorial where the police station stood. And heard stories of the sacrifices of our heroes.
Even though it’s Sukkot and not Pesach, I’m still reminded and singing:
וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵיֽנוּ וְלָנֽוּ. שֶׁלֹא אֶחָד בִּלְבָד, עָמַד עָלֵיֽנוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנֽוּ. אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר, עוֹמְדִים עָלֵיֽנוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנֽוּ. וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם
And this (Hashem’s blessings and the Torah) is what kept our fathers and what keeps us surviving. For, not only one arose and tried to destroy us, rather in every generation they try to destroy us, and Hashem saves us from their hands.
On this long holiday weekend outside of Israel and this multi-part holiday weekend inside Israel, I bless you all for peace and quiet and that all our hostages should come home. Chag Sameach, Shabbat Shalom.