This message was sent to the congregation from Senior Rabbi Ben Spratt on January 15, 2025.
כׇּל הַמְאַבֵּד נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת…כְּאִילּוּ אִיבֵּד עוֹלָם מָלֵא. וְכׇל הַמְקַיֵּים נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת…כְּאִילּוּ קִיֵּים עוֹלָם מָלֵא
“Anyone who destroys one life…it is as if they destroyed an entire universe. And anyone who saves one life…it is as if they saved an entire universe.”
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a
For 467 days, human beings have been held as bargaining chips. Brutalized. Raped. Murdered. They hailed from dozens of countries, of different faiths, ethnicities, family backgrounds. Children and elderly. Men and women. Each a human being. Each a life. Each a universe.
Most of the world forgot them, an erasure of convenience to keep clean a narrative of Israel as perpetrator. Against a backdrop of massacre and war that stole tens of thousands of lives, the kidnapped became forgotten collateral. Our 15-month congregational act of prayer for their release was more than a divine plea – it was a collective act of defiance, a declaration of humanity in the face of inhumanity. It was our assurance that even as we grieve such immense death and destruction, we center as sacred the hearts and worlds that still beat with immeasurable value.
We prayed for this moment – an agreement to release these sacred souls held in captivity for 467 days, and with their release, an end to this war. We will continue our prayers until each person is returned, and for this agreement to hold so that we may raise gratitude for each life saved, each person redeemed. But we also know that the work has only begun. When released, each person must now rediscover humanity. Generations of trauma now rest with each soul. And their wounds and their courage must be witnessed by us all.
The value of a life. We center the sacredness of a world within each heart. We grieve the tens of thousands of irreplaceable universes destroyed through massacre and war. And without falling prey to the temptation to calculate value against value, we hold gratitude for our community’s strength to center sacredness in every soul. We continue our commitment carried through these 467 days and born from our Torah forward: we stand in solidarity with generations of Jewish people striving for a world of justice, compassion, and peace.
We dedicate ourselves to the work of building all that comes next – in healing, in mourning, in honoring, and in building. Our Israel Council will continue to ensure we expand and deepen our commitment to Israel. And I invite our congregation to join me in bringing our strength and devotion to the people of Israel on our CRS Leadership Mission from March 1-7.
In this moment of historic and global significance, we bring attention to the most personal. In the value of each life, we embrace each universe now reclaimed. And in this threshold filled with both horror and hope, we resolve ourselves to be shapers of all that comes next.
Rabbi Ben Spratt
Senior Rabbi
