Finally , “ Z ’ man Simchateinu ”, the Time of our Happiness , provides us with the crown jewel of the Jewish approach to life , namely , that despite the circumstances we face , we must view today as a blessing , one to be cherished and valued . The phrase from Psalm 100 , “ Ivdu et Adonai b ’ simcha , bo ’ u lefanav birnana ,” “ Serve God with happiness , come before God with joy ,” articulates our tradition ’ s requirement that we not lose hope , and instead move positively forward with positive feelings of possibility . HaTikvah / The Hope , the Israeli national anthem , crystallizes how we each must focus ourselves right now .
I bless us all with the ability to hold both our grief and our strength so we can move forward with others into a future that we ourselves can define . We cannot allow our enemies to determine how we feel about ourselves and our future .
When in Israel last December I visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza which was attacked and where many people were ruthlessly killed or taken hostage . I saw row after row of destroyed homes . These memories are seared into my consciousness . They are not , however , my only memory from that visit . My cousin Adi Vital Kaploun , of blessed memory , was killed that day in front of her two young children , ages four months and five years old . I met her surviving family , her parents , her husband Anani , her children , and Avital , the neighbor who cared for the children that awful day and brought them to safety .
During that visit , I saw melons in the apartment of her parents . Anani had harvested them
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