Dear Times of Israel Community,

For more than six months since Hamas’s invasion and slaughter, Israel has been trying to liberate the hostages that Gaza’s terrorist government dragged away to captivity.

In November, a weeklong truce secured the release of many of them, but 129 remain in captivity, in terrible conditions, all these unthinkably long days, weeks and months later. Many of them, indeed, are no longer alive.

As Israel and Jewish people everywhere sit down at the Passover Seder table this year, nobody will need reminding of the modern relevance of its story of exodus and liberation. Nobody will need reminding of the Haggadah’s oft-stated obligation to retell that ancient rescue saga as though we ourselves were enslaved and ultimately freed.

To do so does not require imaginatively casting the mind back through millennia, but merely a scan of the news.

Our hearts will be with those we are missing when we declare, “This year we are here; next year in the land of Israel. This year, we are slaves; next year, we will be free people.” Seldom, in fact, will those lines have been delivered with greater national fervor.

**

Tens of thousands of Israelis, moreover, will be marking Passover this year in an abiding state of internal exile — forced from their homes in the north, or unable to return to their homes in the south.

And we have barely begun to internalize the losses of those who will never return — those who were slaughtered on October 7, and those who have lost their lives in the war that has raged since. Neither can we be indifferent to the lives lost by others caught up in the escalating conflict — those, that is, not complicit in the unprovoked invasion of our revived Jewish homeland.

The people of modern Israel have rarely if ever faced loss, psychological terror and existential danger to the degree we do now. For better or worse, we have never previously required the direct intervention of others to help thwart enemy attack — as we did overnight Saturday-Sunday when a remarkable coalition, led by the United States and including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, enabled us to emerge nearly unscathed from an unprecedented direct missile and drone attack by Iran’s Islamic extremist regime.

The nation of Israel does not, and plainly dares not, dwell alone. It will need all its wisdom to sustain and develop its vital alliances.

It will need all its wisdom, too, to emerge from this enduringly dark hour. Its wisdom and its resilience and its unity. And, yes, smart, worldly, unpanicked leadership.

The intervention of a higher power? Well, perhaps that is what has helped sustain the Jewish people, uniquely, near-miraculously, throughout all those generations since ancient times. And perhaps, as is strongly implied in Deuteronomy 28:8, that higher power helps those who also help themselves.

**

On Monday night, I interviewed Giora Eiland, a retired general and former head of the National Security Council. He set out some fairly radical proposals for alleviating the crisis — not panaceas, but what he regards as the least bad options.

I share his final understatement: “I hope that next year, on the eve of Passover, we’ll talk again, and the situation will be better.”

 

Docu Nation: ‘Picture of His Life’ starts this Thursday

Our new Israeli documentary film series Docu Nation — exclusively for The ToI Community — allows you to stream specially curated, outstanding Israeli films, then join a live discussion with the films’ creators. And with six more award-winning, inspiring films coming up, it’s not too late to register.

Our next film, ‘Picture of His Life,’ will be available to watch for five days starting this Thursday, April 18. This is an extraordinary, intimate account of the life and work of the legendary wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum. Ten years in the making, the documentary was shot on all corners of the world – from Antarctica to Botswana, Norway, the Amazon River and finally the Canadian Arctic. Press here for the trailer:

For more information and to register for the series if you haven’t already, please press here (requires signing into your ToI account):

Register for Docu Nation

** If you already registered for Docu Nation, you will receive email updates with a link to watch ‘Picture of His Life’ and join the webinar with the filmmaker as the dates approach.

Have a question about the series? Email us.

Have a technical issue? Email Docu Nation tech support.

 

Israel Story: Wartime Diaries with Holocaust survivor Walter Bingham

Our podcast partners at Israel Story continue to bring you ‘Wartime Diaries,’ remarkable voices and testimonies of Israel during these unprecedented times. On the latest episode of this special series, we hear from Walter Bingham, a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor who still remembers being on the Kindertransport. Mr. Bingham has strong feelings about comparing the Shoah to the current Israel-Hamas war.

** Israel Story is produced in partnership with The Times of Israel.

 

What Matters Now to David Horovitz: The conflicts of war coverage

What it’s like to manage a news site that millions of people rely on for accurate and timely coverage of Israel at war? Speaking from our Jerusalem office, The Times of Israel editor David Horovitz offers a rare, in-depth look at the professional challenges and personal conflicts he’s faced in covering the war against Hamas, six months in. On this week’s episode of our ToI podcast, we ask David, What Matters Now?

Listen to What Matters Now

🔔 Be sure to subscribe to What Matters Now on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

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Thank you for your continued support of our independent journalism.

~ The Times of Israel Team