Dear Or Ami,
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Nothing illuminates the juxtaposition of opposites like walking through the “happiest place on earth” while simultaneously drafting a message to our Or Ami community about the brutal murder by Hamas of six beautiful souls in the tunnels under Gaza.

My wife Michelle November and I were spending the long day (7am-9pm) with twenty-seven 7th and 8th graders and our youth team – Or Ami’s Youth Engagement Coordinator Andrew Fromer, Rabbi Lana Zilberman Soloway, and Kesher Assistant Principal Brooke Botwinick – on our annual bonding trip through Disneyland. We rabbis join the trip for the express purpose of building relationships with a group who soon become BMitzvah, embarking on the first steps on the path toward Jewish adulthood. We hope that before most of the students dive deeply into the traditional troika – of Torah chanting, D’var Torah crafting, and perfecting their prayer-leading – that they will deepen their connections with their clergy. After all, while the simcha (celebration) of BMitzvah happens in a day, we aim to create relationships with their rabbis that last a lifetime.

(Ask me sometime about the texts we get: from teens needing help getting out of a party, the college students seeking support when their friends are descending into drug addiction, or the young adults yearning for a sense of meaning amidst the devastating assault of explosive antisemitism. The texts continue to come in from our alumni asking for assistance long after they or even their families leave Or Ami.)

Yet this year, as our pre-teens amble carefree through Disneyland, their rabbis – alongside them asking questions about their likes and dislikes, their lives, hopes, and dreams – are also whispering in hushed tones about what to say to an adult community reeling from the latest news. While in line at Thunder Mountain, we are thinking about which words will address the barrage of emotions exploding within us.

Floating through It’s a Small World, I am anything but calm considering how a relatively small Jewish world is so devastated and demoralized at the grief now engrossing the parents and families of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, and Almog Sarusi, 27, and Carmel Gat – the six murdered hostages.

In the darkness of Pirates of the Caribbean, I am slumping in my own sadness, while simultaneously ruminating about what the community needs to consider as we all process these emotions and what actions we can take that have meaning in the moment.

Taking a break after a caffeine-fueled, fried food feeding frenzy (that others call “lunch”), Michelle and I meandered in the relative calmness of Mickey’s Toon Town as I edited a draft of an email to elevate the turmoil within into words of disbelief, solace, and consolation. And then we rush back to bond again with these beautiful souls who are our 7th and 8th graders.

These young ones are our hope and our future. The prophet Joel said (in words that Jewish composer Debbie Friedman paraphrased as), “The old shall dream dreams but the youth shall see visions.” On the cusp of adulthood, these wondrous young ones are still struggling with how they fit in, who they want to be, and what kind of world they will inherit. They understand that antisemitism is on the rise and Israel is embroiled in something really destructive. This worries them.

They also wonder how they will win their next video game, if they will get a good role in the musical production, and whether the acne making its appearance all over their once smooth skin will ameliorate their social status and undermine their self-esteem. Together we are fantasizing about helping the Jedi in the Star Wars rides defeat the Empire, figuring out how to have fun amidst the pressures of schoolwork, and strategizing to better get along with parents and siblings. We all – rabbis, staff, and students – are laughing at silly jokes and ice cream melting all over us, even as we rabbis are quietly offering edits to the email that will go out once our Communications Manager gets back to her computer at home.

The congregational email, finally finished, goes out (read it here). The pre-teens’ energy, exhausted from exploring the far reaches of Disneyland, finally peters out. And our youth leaders decide to lead their charges back to the bus.

After hugs and goodbyes and promises to see each other soon at our Makom Teen nights, Michelle and I are zapped – from listening, and talking, and traipsing to and fro, and waiting in line, and riding the rides, and forming a coherent message all while also holding onto intense emotions coursing through our heads and hearts.

When our heads finally hit the pillows at home, we are hearts-soaring with simcha (joy) at relationships deepened with Or Ami’s youth and also hearts-heavy with sadness for the families of the murdered hostages.

It’s a juxtaposition of opposites. Might our presence at Disneyland plant a seed to help these youth in the future? I hope so.

Might our words in the email provide a measure of comfort and a few options for concrete ways to act? I hope so too.

Sometimes we act and then when there’s little else to do, we hope. As Jon Polin, father of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin said at his son’s funeral, Od lo avda tikvateinu, our hope is not yet lost to bring home the remaining hostages and for peace. So, hope we will.

Laila tov. Good night.

Rabbi Paul Kipnes

P.S. Consider attending this Or Ami-supported Eleven Month Rally.