Rabbi Josh Hearshen’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2025

If I were to send a message to the people of Israel, the Israeli government, the families of the hostages or even Hamas I would send them words from the Hatikvah, our national anthem, ode lo avdah tikvatenu, we have not lost hope. For the people of Israel, I would want them to feel our strength and our undying belief that tomorrow will come, and things can and will improve. I would want them to understand we stand with them as the People of Israel and we will never lose sight of the hope of being a Jewish people in the world, and in our ancestral homeland.

For the Israeli government, I would want them to understand my words as knowing we cannot give up on believing in humanity and the presence of humanity in places, we least expect it. For the families of the hostages, I would want them to know that hope is the single greatest natural resource they have at their disposal. To wake up every morning knowing that if we have hope, there can be a day where they can hold their loved ones again or at least be given closure.

For Hamas, these words should mean we Jews are a peculiar group. Our thousands of years of history have lit a fire within us that forbids us to ever give up on anything. Our hope is something that no amount of terror and hatred can ever destroy. Our hope, belief, and knowledge of the righteousness of our cause is something that will never be taken from us. It is awful that we are entering the third year of this conflict we did not choose. May the sounds of the Shofar pierce our hearts and our souls. May it be that we find the Shofar to communicate that our hope is quite alive. May it be that the Shofar awakens us to a commitment to always have hope, even in our darkest and most trying of times. Each day of Rosh Hashana we sound the shofar 100 times. Over the two days as we hear 200 blasts, may we each close our eyes and see our place in this world and dig deeper in our hope to never allow it to be lost.

Josh Hearshen is the rabbi of Congregation Or VeShalom.