LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — An emotional ceremony was held Tuesday at Congregation Ner Tamid (CNT) Synagogue in Henderson.
The culmination of what has been two years of stress for Rabbi Cookie Lea Olshein.
“It’s not two years. It was 783 days,” Rabbi Olshein said.
“783 mornings in captivity, 783 times that these individuals went to sleep not knowing whether they would be safe to wake up tomorrow.”
CNT Synagogue’s resident rabbinic scholar told FOX 5 about her experience living through disaster, calling Israel home during the second Intifada.
“Crazy people were blowing up buses on my street. I feel like I’m connected to this act of terrorism in a different way than, thank God, most people in America are,” Rabbi Olshein said.
A perspective Rabbi Olshein hoped to share with the community during Tuesday’s Simchat Torah service.
What is typically a holiday celebration tied into honoring the return of hostages from Hamas.
“We will balance the joy of receiving the last 24 living hostages. We will balance that with, I would say, saying thank you for the miracle of their return and also remembering those that are lost and the understanding that this is not the end of a peace process. This is merely one step in creating true peace,” Rabbi Olshein said.
Rabbi-Cantor Jessica Hutchings echoed her counterpart’s message of peace during Tuesday’s service.
A powerful plea as the pictures of Hamas hostages were removed from the temple walls following their release.
“There was just a lot of joy and almost disbelief because it felt impossible,” Rabbi-Cantor Hutchings said.
“Community is a pillar of Judaism, that we are the Jews of the diaspora, meaning we don’t live in Israel. We have to find each other, and we have to gather together, and we have to celebrate together.”
The service was followed by a celebration filled with music and dance while reading from the Torah.
A joyous moment for Orly Graves who knew the family of two of the hostages that are finally home.
“I got to know a very special lady whose daughter was kidnapped on October 7th from Kfar Aza in Israel. Her name is Emily Damari.
“We prayed for them. Their story is pretty ugly. There are two guys who helped her in Far Aza. Their names are Gili and Ziv. Gili and Ziv came home yesterday after two years being captive. Now she’ll be ready to heal and move on.”
As Rabbi-Cantor Hutchings said, community was on full display, as everyone prays for a larger push toward peace.
“We are stronger together as a community, and we have proven through these two years that even through trauma, even through immense anti-Semitism, even through our fear for Israel’s existential reality. It was an existential crisis in so many moments, and maybe it still is,” Rabbi-Cantor Hutchings said.
“We stood together and that’s what got us through.”
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