RSS
Echoing ancient times of distress, Hadar Institute calls for communal fast in response to attack on Israel
(JTA) — Never before had Douglas Sagal, rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Rumson, New Jersey, heard of a call for a communal fast in a moment of crisis for the Jewish people.
But on Thursday, he will join nearly 500 rabbis and Jewish leaders — most of them around the United States — who have signed up to participate in a Taanit Tzibur, Hebrew for communal fast. The fast is being organized by the Hadar Institute, an egalitarian Jewish educational institution in New York, to unite communities in prayer for the more than 100 Israelis taken captive by Hamas in its invasion on Saturday, which also killed and wounded thousands of Israelis.
“We stand in horror as Hamas has taken over 100 Israelis and other citizens hostage, among them infants, toddlers, entire families, the elderly and Holocaust survivors,” the call for the fast reads. “While political and military leaders are pursuing pathways to their release, we have a religious and communal obligation to stand up for the victims and to cry out to God.”
Sagal sees the fast as a way for Jews in his community and beyond to demonstrate that they are attached to Israel.
“My congregation, like any Jewish community in the Diaspora, is reeling and is still trying to process this horrific event,” Sagal told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “And our bodies may be here in the west, but our hearts and souls are definitely in the east.”
The list of participants, which quickly swelled over the course of the day since it opened for signups Wednesday morning, is meant to be both a physical and spiritual means of connecting to the pain of the attack, explained Rabbi Avi Killip, Hadar’s executive director and organizer of the dawn-to-nightfall fast.
“You’re trying to say there is something happening that needs dire attention, and I’m calling attention to that and I’m willing to sort of put my body and my own physical needs on the line in order to say that,” Killip said.
“There’s a long standing tradition in Judaism of decreeing additional fast days in moments of communal crisis and need,” she added. “In facing these attacks, which were so deliberately against Jews, it feels powerful to have an ancient Jewish ritual mode of response, and I just feel grateful to have that outlet.”
In ancient times, public fasts were called in moments of distress, and the shofar was blown at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Prayers were added to the Amidah, the central Jewish prayer recited thrice daily, and Jews gathered to pray the Neilah service, which is held at nightfall once a year, at the end of Yom Kippur.
Because there is no Temple today, the liturgy for a public fast in times of distress is the same as that of Judaism’s minor fast days, which occur four times over the course of the year. Congregants participating in this fast will also recite chapters of the Book of Psalms, as well as Avinu Malkeinu, a set of prayers traditionally recited during the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Avinu Malkeinu, which is also recited on fast days, was written by the Talmudic sage Rabbi Akiva during a time of drought. In contemporary times, fasts have been called for severe droughts by rabbis in California.
Sagal is encouraging his congregants to participate in the fast, but emphasized that it is up to individuals to take part, though everyone is welcome to join for prayer services on Thursday. On Sunday, the day the attack began, Congregation B’nai Israel, a Conservative synagogue, hosted a vigil attended by hundreds of members in person and online, and the community is also hosting a fundraiser for Israel next week.
“The teachers and rabbis at Hadar were very prescient using this ancient idea of the public fast to give those of us in the Diaspora an opportunity to feel connected to our brothers and sisters in Israel,” Sagal said.
—
The post Echoing ancient times of distress, Hadar Institute calls for communal fast in response to attack on Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
The post Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.