Ronit Franco-Pinsky’s Rosh Hashanah Message for 2025

As I reflect on this Jewish New Year — my favorite holiday — I cannot stop thinking about our brothers and sisters, innocent civilians and a few soldiers, who have now been held captive in Gaza for 700 days. That’s 100 Shabbats without their families. They are starving, abused, and tortured.

While I sit around the holiday table with my loved ones, preparing my favorite dishes and dipping apples and challah in honey, I am overwhelmed with guilt. Twenty of the hostages are still alive, yet for the second year in a row, they will not be with their families. They won’t sit at a holiday table. They won’t even get a quarter piece of dry pita or a drop of clean water.

My message to the Israeli government is simple and urgent: Enough. Accept the deal. We already lost on October 7th — there is no victory without bringing the hostages home. Whether it’s a partial deal or a full one, accept it and act now. The suffering of the families is unbearable. Our entire country is living in ongoing trauma, and it’s time to move into healing. We must begin the process of post-trauma and national recovery.

And to the cowardly, evil Hamas — I say this: You will not break us. You will not destroy us. Many have tried before, and we have prevailed. We are strong, we are united, and we will not stop fighting for the return of our people. You have lost your humanity and your power. Stop using Gazans as human shields. Stop hiding behind children and women while innocent people suffer. Release the hostages — every single one of them — now!

I will continue to pray for the safe return of all 48 hostages, both the living and those who have tragically perished. May we drink wine, eat together, and celebrate life again. And this year, in the synagogue, I will pray harder and louder than ever before.

Amen.

Ronit Frano-Pinsky is the Executive Assistant for Atlanta Jewish Times.