Dear Friends,
Please accept our heartfelt greetings for a Shana Tova. We convey these wishes with a sense of hope and optimism for the year ahead while remaining deeply cognizant of the of the tragic losses that befell some of our communities and the challenges experienced by Jewish communities around the world over the year that has passed.
This year we experienced both extremely dark moments and profound points of light.
We witnessed the return home of the last living hostages from Gaza as well as the recovery some months later of the body of the final hostage whose remains were being held there. After years of praying and hoping, Jews around the world were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief. And across Jewish communities last year, people continued to gather, celebrate, learn, create, and nurture the faith, culture and traditions that connect us to one another and to generations past and future.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that this has been a year in which Jewish communities confronted a surge in antisemitic violence the likes of which have not been seen since the Shoah — from the heinous attacks last Yom Kippur in Manchester and at the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach to the continued harassment of Jews in many countries.
Alongside the pain, we observed the extraordinary solidarity and resilience of our Jewish brothers and sisters worldwide—and the determination not only to protect our way of life but to celebrate it and ensure that it continues to flourish. We at the WJC are determined to persist in our efforts to advocate for the rights of our communities so that we may all live proud Jewish lives without fear.
May 5787 be filled with light for you and your loved ones, and may it bring good health and good tidings to us all.
