Chevre, this week’s parsha is Lech Lecha (לֶךְ־לְךָ֛). This week HaShem tells Avram to go to the land that HaShem will show him. He goes there and Lot decides to strike out on his own. Avram and Saray go to Egypt, but they need to hide their marital situation because Avram is afraid that he will be killed and Saray taken. She does get taken by Pharaoh, but then a plague hits the house of Pharaoh and Saray is released.

Lot goes to Sdom and is then captured. A war starts and Avram teams up with a coalition to reclaim Lot. The coalition wins and Lot is freed to continue living his life.

All of this could be the news of our time up to and including what happened last night in Amsterdam (the home of Anne Frank). I don’t have any positive commentary on the current situation in Europe.

What I do know is that HaShem told Avram to come home to Eretz Yisrael. I do know that living through the American 9/11 in Boston and living through the Israeli Oct 7th, I feel more confident in my place in society and amongst my neighbors who help and protect each other here in Israel.

I appologize for the raw post, I thought about connecting the protection of your neighbors to AWS Shield and how the AWS Infrastructure adds networking protection and regular monitoring, but it feels too hollow this morning.

I pray that all the Israelis make it home from Amsterdam, that the injured recover, that the potential missing (rumored up until this writing) are found safe, for the safe return of all our hostages and for all our soldiers and security forces to return home safely as well. Am Yisrael Chai. Shabbat Shalom.