A Shabbat prayer says If our mouths were filled with song like the expanse of the sea … we could not thank you enough, Gd, for the good that you have done for us and for our ancestors. After 2,000 years of suffering the cruelty of our enemies, how have these words continued to be said? If we are challenged by the words, all the more challenging for Jews who lived before 1948! The October 7th massacre ended thanks to the IDF – but before the State of Israel our vulnerability to our enemies was absolute. Jews had no mechanism to protect themselves, so how to understand that eventually an attack ended? What stopped the blood baths? Why the long periods of relative quiet? As we continue to pray for the return of each and every captive, history – and our prayers – remind us that there are forces at play beyond our control and our comprehension that determine outcomes.
