Today was both a day I had dreaded for a long time and one I had happily anticipated for a long time. Talk about a conflict of emotions. Today, the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas along with the body of Oded Lifshitz were returned to Israel from Gaza by Hamas. Since October 7th, along with so many others, we hoped and prayed for the return of the entire Bibas family. We were afraid that they would not return home alive. When Yarden was returned a few weeks ago, we hoped the family would be reunited and we would get to experience that joy. Today, we officially knew, that joy would never be realized.

More than not realized, the way Hamas returned the coffins of these children they attacked, kidnapped, held hostage, and murdered was disgusting. The way they paraded the coffins of Oded and Shiri through the streets of Gaza was horrifying. Just when you think they can’t sink lower, can’t show the world just how evil they are even clearer, they do.

Hamas locked the coffins and didn’t give Israel the keys. They put propoganda inside the coffins. They put pictures of other hostages on the exterior of the coffins. They used a full size for both Ariel and Kfir so the world wouldn’t see how they murdered the innocent children that they kidnapped and took hostage.

I know I am not alone in grieving the loss of the Bibas children and their mother. Of feeling the unimaginable pain of Yarden. The Bibas family loved Batman and the images of them wearing Batman costumes and shirts and pajamas are iconic. The piece below captures our loss powerfully as Batman himself grieves as the three orange stars in the sky remind us what we have lost.

There were busses bombed in Bat Yam today and more bombs found on busses in Tel Aviv that were set to go off tomorrow morning. It won’t get the worldwide attention that it should because the target of the bombs were Jews. The fact that the innocent Palestinians were the ones who planted the bombs, who planned to murder as many innocent people as they could with these explosives will be lost in the media.

The UN continues to brag about how much food and medical attention they have provided in Gaza while also claiming famine and no medical supplies or facilities existing. They can blatently lie because the world allows them to do so. Nobody calls them out on the lies, they instead use them to create more Jew hatred. The other day, comedian Jerry Seinfeld said what so many people are feeling. What so many people have been waiting to hear.

Today was also a day I have been anticipating. This past summer, we lost our 13 1/2 year old chocolate lab, Bella. She brought us so much joy it was very hard to say goodbye. Our house hasn’t been the same since. A couple of months ago, we decided to get another lab. The loss of Bella was so hard on all of us, we decided to get a puppy so we would have her for as long as possible. Today was pick-up day for our new puppy. Today is the day that she came home to live with us. Since we knew we were getting her, she was a part of our family. We visited her about 10 days ago and each day since was another day closer to having her. I got up early, drove to Dunellen to the breeder, and picked her up. She sat on the front seat next to me, chewing on my hand. My thumb was her favorite. Partway home, she decided to climb into my lap, lay her head in the crook of my right arm, and take a little nap. The drive home was special as we bonded.

Charlotte (Charlie) on the way home in the car, in the house, and out in the yard.

The love and joy I felt is indescribable. I struggled with the knowledge that they bodies of Bibas family were being identified at the same time that I was filled with joy as we added Charlotte (Charlie) to our family. Having her home, exploring our house, playing in our yard, bouncing around filled with life, was such incredible light that my heart was full while also being broken.

I find myself focused today on the power of evil and how it robs us of joy. It robs us of the wonder of life. Hamas is evil. Full stop. They have no redeeming quality. They have no reason to exist other than hate. And they need to be eliminated, not just as an idea but all those who participated in the horror of October 7th, the taking of hostages, the keeping of the hostages, the torturing of hostages. I don’t care if they put on a journalist t-shirt or have a medical degree. They are not journalists or doctors. They are not teachers or leaders of civil society. They are terrorists. They are evil. And they must be eliminated.

In May and July of 2024, I visited the Nova music festival site. It was painful both times. I had a chance to join with others to sing, to bring music back to this place that was ripped apart on October 7th. Both times I got to hear the story of Rami Davidian, a farmer at a local Moshav, who saved 750 people from the Nova site on October 7th. I was able to video record his talk in July. Near the end, he talks about what he did on October 8th, when he returned to the site to provide some dignity to the dead. As he talks about the women who were tied to the trees that he cut down, closed their legs and covered them for dignity as he said the Shema over their bodies, you can see the pain in his eyes. The emotion gets to him more about October 8th and what those women endured before being murdered than anything on October 7th. As he looked at the trees, I could see him still seeing the women tied to those trees. It’s something I will never forget and I can’t imagine how he will live with those memories. Stolen joy. Stolen life. Stolen dignity.

I know that I have changed since October 7th. And I know I have changed with the events after October 7th. And I know that the murder of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas have changed me again. I also know that adding Charlotte (Charlie) to our family has changed me in a different way. I won’t let the Jew haters or the terrorists change who I am as a human being. I also won’t let them win. The same way Jerry Seinfeld called out the guy who thought he was being funny, I can also not allow stupid, hateful, racist, bigoted comments to go unchallenged. We can all stand up and speak out the same way that Secretary of State Marco Rubio wouldn’t allow CBS Anchor Margaret Brennan to get away with telling a lie and speaking untruths on Face the Nation. We need to be forceful like Seinfeld and Rubio. We need to not allow the lies to go unchallenged.

We need to remember the facts and not be afraid to say them. A large-scale survey of Gazans, conducted by researchers from Oxford University and published in Foreign Affairs just last week, showed that 98% of those surveyed described themselves as religious, and nearly as many said they saw the conflict with Israel in religious, not political terms: The Jews were usurpers who must be banished. How? When asked, 47% said they wanted to see Israel destroyed and replaced with a strict Islamic state governed by Sharia law, and 20% said they would settle merely for the forced removal of all Jews and their transfer to wherever it was their ancestors had lived prior to immigrating to Israel. You can read an article about the study here.

This isn’t about land or a state. This is about eliminating the Jews. Those who want to argue otherwise need to be called out and held to account. No more hiding. No more quiet. No more putting our heads in the sand. It’s not just that we owe it to ourselves and to our children and grandchildren. We owe it to Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas.

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