We will always remember this week and in the future, our grandchildren will ask us what we did and where we were. Receiving news about Israel saving the west through her courageous preemptive strike on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program. Texting with congregants and family members in bomb shelters all throughout Israel; people in the shelters singing, praying, crying, hoping their children will sleep a few hours through the hellish nights. So many of us wondering what this moment in history will bring.
Will we witness a free Iranian people? Will Israel and all of humanity experience a safer future because of a weakened Iranian regime and therefore, a weakening of Iran’s proxies? The wait, even thousands of miles away, is debilitating. Israelis stranded in the United States, anxious to go home. Americans stranded in Israel, anxious to go home. Israelis’ movements dependent on each siren they hear. The unknown is frightening.
Psalm 30 reminds us that hope is coming. “One may lie down weeping at nightfall; but at dawn there are shouts of joy.” For Israel, the Jewish people and the western world, nightfall may seem excruciatingly long. But as the Psalmist comforts, joy will soon replace our fear. Light will pierce the darkness. Peace will push away the evil.
May we pray for nightfall to lift, quickly. May Israel prevail and for the world to experience what we recite every day in our prayers, “That peace will fill the earth as waters fill the sea.” Amen.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is senior rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik or on Instagram @rabbiguzik. For more writings, visit Rabbi Guzik’s blog section from Sinai Temple’s website.
