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Responding With Hope After This Week’s Devastating News
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.
The devastating news out of Washington, DC, on Wednesday night was both shocking and heartbreaking. Two young Israeli Embassy staff members — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim — were gunned down at point-blank range outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
They had just attended a peaceful event celebrating Jewish heritage and identity. As they exited the building, a gunman approached, drew a weapon, and murdered them in cold blood.
Yaron had recently purchased an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to propose in Jerusalem next week. But instead of celebrating their wedding, their families are now planning their funerals after they were slain on an American sidewalk — simply for the crime of being Jewish.
The killer, Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, calmly entered the building after the attack and handed himself over to police. As they handcuffed him, he chanted, “Free, Free Palestine,” and, chillingly, “There is only one solution — Intifada revolution.”
Let’s be clear: the First and Second Intifadas were violent Palestinian terror sprees in Israel, marked by the systematic targeting of Jews — who were shot, bombed, stabbed, and rammed to death in cafés, buses, bus stops, markets, and on the street.
This is what Rodriguez was invoking. He wasn’t a lone madman acting on delusion. He is part of a global movement that defines itself through the language of “intifada.” He knew exactly what he was doing — but even more disturbingly, he believed what he did was just, even noble.
And make no mistake: he wasn’t targeting Israelis. He was targeting Jews.
Pro-Palestinian thought leaders desperately want us to believe there’s a difference. They insist their opposition is to Zionists, not Jews. That when activists chant “From the river to the sea,” it’s about national aspirations — not exterminationist ideology. That the masked agitators swarming campuses and city halls in keffiyehs are just politically engaged students, not thugs brimming with unfiltered hatred for Jews.
But after the murder of Yaron and Sarah in Washington, they’re running out of excuses. Because when people chant that Israel must cease to exist — and that anyone who supports Israel deserves to die — they obviously mean it. And now, clearly, they are willing to act on it.
This week, it was Washington, DC. Next week, it could be Beverly Hills, or Brooklyn, or Miami. Or London. Or Paris. In fact, it already has been all of those. The common thread is blindingly obvious: the targets are always Jewish.
And yet, remarkably, there are still those who defend this madness — academics who parse words, pundits who moralize from behind microphones, self-appointed progressive ethicists who churn out free-speech justifications and convoluted evasions faster than the victims’ bodies can be removed from the crime scene.
“It’s complicated,” they say. “Context matters.” “Don’t conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.” But let’s not kid ourselves. Anyone still insisting that antisemitic violence, disguised as anti-Israel activism, is just a misunderstood form of political expression has blood on their hands. It really is that simple.
In this week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, we read a long and difficult section known as the tochacha — a harrowing list of consequences that will befall the Jewish people if we forsake our covenant with God. The passage is devastating: famine, starvation, defeat, humiliation, exile, fear. It paints a portrait of a world turned upside down — where Jew-hating enemies roam freely, Jewish life is cheap, and our dignity is trampled underfoot.
One line from the passage leaps out with chilling clarity (Lev. 26:17): “Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee though no one pursues you.”
Truthfully, it’s starting to feel like that. No Jewish event takes place without security. We live with fear of real threats and anxiety over imagined ones. It’s become a world where those who hate us seem to have gained the upper hand. Mobs chant for our destruction in broad daylight, and public institutions still debate whether these chants even qualify as hate speech. And now, two Jews can be murdered in the heart of America’s capital — and while it’s shocking, it is no longer surprising.
What’s striking, though, is that the parsha doesn’t begin with curses — it starts with promise: אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ (Lev. 26:3). “If you walk in My statutes,” then God’s blessings will surround you from every side. The key word is teileichu — to walk. Not to sit, not to wait, not to retreat.
To walk is to move forward, to stand tall, to keep going. The Torah’s message is clear: if you face the world with your head held high, with clarity, with courage, and with a deep commitment to who you are — then no matter what challenges come your way, you will be blessed. If we remain rooted in our identity, if we refuse to let fear or pressure compromise our values or our mission, then no hurdle will be too high and no distance too far.
It’s only when we compromise — when we stop standing tall, when we dilute the truth, when we choose comfort over conviction and convenience over heritage — that the protection which flows from moral clarity begins to fade. And into that vacuum come the haters, the chaos-makers, and the murderers.
The answer to the current surge in Jew-hatred and Judeophobia is threefold. First: clarity. The man who pulled the trigger wasn’t randomly attacking two innocent people — he was sending a message to every Jew: you are not safe. And to that, we must respond with moral ferocity. Not fear. Not appeasement. Not nuance. Ferocity.
Second: unity. The Jewish people cannot afford the luxury of internal fracture right now. Left, right, secular, religious, Zionist, anti-Zionist — none of that matters when we are all targets. We either stand together, or we collapse and fall.
And finally, faith. Because Bechukotai doesn’t end with the curses. It ends with a promise (Lev. 26:45): “I will remember My covenant with them… to be their God — I am God.” A remarkable statement that is not an empty platitude. On the contrary, it’s a guarantee, reminding us that we’ve been here before. We’ve been hated, we’ve been hunted, and we’ve been massacred. Not once, but many times. And yet the Jewish people always endures. Because that’s God’s promise, and He always keeps His word.
The couple murdered in Washington this week will never get to build a life together. But their memory must build something for us and within us: the courage to stand tall, the strength to speak truth, and the resolve to relentlessly fight back against the evil that masquerades as virtue. That’s the real lesson of Bechukotai: things may seem bleak — they may even be genuinely hard — but we can endure and get through it, because God is with us. Always.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post Responding With Hope After This Week’s Devastating News first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tourists Stranded in Israel as Sirens Sound, Missiles Fly, Planes Grounded
FILE PHOTO: A worker at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel sits at the arrivals terminal as all flights from and to the airport are indicated cancel, following an Israeli attack on Iran. June 13, 2025 Photo: REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum
Woken by air raid sirens, hurrying to bomb shelters, scouring travel sites for escape routes — thousands of tourists in Israel have found their holiday plans upended by the country’s conflict with Iran.
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday, shutting down the national airspace and telling people to remain where they were as the arch Middle East foes traded deadly blows.
The violence has left around 40,000 tourists blocked in Israel, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Airlines are cancelling flights until further notice, leaving travelers to decide whether to wait it out or seek costly detours through neighboring countries.
Justin Joyner, from California, is on holiday in Jerusalem with his father John, who lives in Nevada, and his son. They had expected some possible disruption, with Israel locked in a months-long conflict against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
But, like most locals, they did not foresee a whole new war.
“We didn’t expect Israel to attack Iran. That is a completely different level of escalation,” Joyner said from his hotel in East Jerusalem, which, for the past two nights, has seen Iranian ballistic missiles flash overhead like a rain of meteorites.
“It’s unsettling to feel the shockwaves of intercepted missiles above you, and to take your family down to a bomb shelter. That’s just something we don’t think about in America,” he said.
Dr. Greer Glazer, who lives in Cleveland and was in Jerusalem for a nursing training program, faces a race down 10 flights of stairs in her hotel to reach the shelter when sirens sound — as they have done regularly since Friday night.
“I feel safe,” she said, “but waking from a dead sleep and running to the safe room, that’s been the hardest. My family is scared to death … They think it’s 24/7 destruction, but it’s not like that.”
THE JORDAN ROUTE
Glazer had been due to return home on June 29, but is looking to bring forward her departure. The easiest exit route is via land crossings into neighboring Jordan and then a flight out of Amman airport which has been operating in daylight hours.
Israeli media reported that the transgender US influencer Caitlyn Jenner, who only flew into Israel on Thursday for Tel Aviv’s since-canceled Gay Pride Parade, had left through Jordan.
Hours earlier, she had been photographed drinking a glass of red wine in a bomb shelter. “What an incredible way it has been to celebrate Shabbat,” she wrote on X.
Not everyone is rushing to leave.
Karen Tuhrim is visiting from London to see her daughter, who lives in Tel Aviv. “Within two days of being here, Israel attacked Iran. So now I’m stuck,” she said.
Unlike Jerusalem, Tel Aviv has taken direct hits from the Iranian missiles and Tuhrim has had to dip in and out of her hotel’s shelter. But she said she felt safe and was happy to be near her daughter.
“For me, personally, at the moment, I feel better being here than in London, watching it all on the news, knowing my daughter is here. So, for now, we’re good.”
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has set up a round-the-clock virtual help desk in English and Hebrew for stranded travelers.
But for anyone stuck here, all the museums are closed until further notice, entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem is barred to non-residents and many shops remain shuttered.
“The streets and shops are empty,” said Jerusalem resident Anwar Abu Lafi, who saw no quick end to the gloom.
“People are yearning for a break, to find something good in this existing darkness. We are deluding ourselves into thinking that the future will be better,” he said.
The post Tourists Stranded in Israel as Sirens Sound, Missiles Fly, Planes Grounded first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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4 Killed by Missile in Arab Town of Tamra, Including a Mother and Her Two Daughters
Illustrative: A Magen David Adom ambulance. Photo: David King via Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel was struck by an Iranian missile, tragically claiming the lives of four women from the same family, including a mother and her two daughters, aged 13 and 20.
The missile caused severe damage, nearly collapsing the three- to four-story building where they lived.
Emergency services responded quickly, evacuating 14 injured individuals and providing care for eight others suffering from shock at Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
Despite the devastation, the community and first responders showed remarkable resilience and solidarity, working tirelessly to assist those affected.
Eli Bin, director general of Magen David Adom, described the scene as one of severe destruction but praised the swift and professional response of rescue teams. Paramedic Adnan Abu Rumi, one of the first on site, emphasized the dedication of emergency personnel in managing the crisis.
Residents like Hamudi, who was injured but survived, shared heartfelt accounts of the sudden impact, underscoring the strength of families and neighbors coming together in difficult times.
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Trump Sees Peace Between Iran and Israel Soon, Eyes Putin Role
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
Despite evidence that the conflict between Israel and Iran is escalating, US President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Sunday that peace would come soon and cited the possibility that Russia’s Vladimir Putin could help.
In a social media post, Trump said there were many unspecified meetings about the issue happening and encouraged the two countries to make a deal. And in an interview with ABC News, he said he was open to Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine and who has resisted Trump’s attempts to broker a ceasefire with Kyiv, serving as a mediator.
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place.”
Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel’s campaign against Iran would intensify.
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump and the White House were working to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East.
Trump told ABC News that Iran wanted to make a deal and indicated something like the Israel strikes would accelerate that. “Something like this had to happen because I think even from both sides, but something like this had to happen. They want to talk, and they will be talking,” Trump said, according to ABC reporter Rachel Scott. “May have forced a deal to go quicker, actually.”
The United States has engaged in talks with Iran about its nuclear program and Trump has told reporters previously that the talks were going well. But another round of discussions scheduled for Sunday in Oman was canceled after the Israeli and Iranian strikes.
Trump said he and Putin had discussed the situation in the Middle East on Saturday in a call that focused more on that conflict than the Russian war in Ukraine.
“He is ready. He called me about it,” Trump said about Putin serving as a mediator, according to Scott. “We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation. This is something I believe is going to get resolved.”
Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker and has drawn criticism from his political base for not being able to prevent the Israel-Iran conflict, cited other disputes that he took responsibility for solving, including between India and Pakistan, and lamented not receiving more praise for doing so.
“I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote on Truth Social.
The post Trump Sees Peace Between Iran and Israel Soon, Eyes Putin Role first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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