Eti Lazarian’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2025

There are no words large enough to hold the weight of your pain. No language has ever been strong enough to describe the silence of an empty bed, the ache of an unopened door, the prayers whispered into the night with no answer. And yet, I write to you with trembling hands and a full heart, because your suffering must never be carried in silence it must be shared, honored, and felt by all of us.

Every morning you wake and carry a burden that no parent, no child, no sibling should ever know: the unbearable not-knowing. You rise into days that feel longer than eternity, where each second stretches between hope and despair. You set a place at the table in your mind, imagining your loved one’s smile, their laughter, their presence and then you face the unbearable truth of their absence. This is pain beyond endurance, and yet you endure.

You are warriors of the heart. The world sees you on television, holding photographs, chanting their names, demanding their freedom. But what the world does not see are the tears you shed alone, the sleepless nights, the moments when the silence feels like it might crush you. Still, you rise. Still, you hope. Still, you love so fiercely that nothing no cruelty, no captivity can extinguish it.

We know that each hostage is not just a name, not just a number, but a whole universe. A father who tells bedtime stories. A daughter who dreams of the future. A mother who holds her family together. A son whose laughter fills the house. They are not faceless, and they are not forgotten. Their lives matter more than anything, and your pain matters just as deeply.

To the government and leaders of Israel: these families look to you not just for answers, but for action. Each hour that passes is a scar etched deeper into their souls. The return of these hostages is not only a matter of politics it is the beating heart of our humanity, and the sacred promise that Israel will never leave its sons and daughters behind.

To you, the families: know this you are not alone. Your pain has become the pain of an entire nation, of the Jewish people across the world, and of all who believe in justice. Your prayers have become our prayers. Your tears have become our tears. The world watches, the world waits, the world cries with you.

Until the moment comes when you hold your loved ones again, we will not stop. We will not be silent. We will not rest. The story is not finished the end must be one of return, of reunion, of life triumphing over death, of love breaking the chains of cruelty.

May you find strength in the arms of one another and may hope, fragile though it feels, carry you until the day your loved ones come home.

With deepest solidarity, pain, and love.

Eti Lazarian is a dynamic commercial real estate professional, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who blends business expertise with a passion for community impact at Insignia LLC.