Our enemies have not won

Rabbi Adam F. Miller

As Pesach approaches, I want to share this excerpt from the sermon I delivered after the deaths of Ariel and Kfir Bibas. It is vital that we show the world – Am Yisrael Chai – the people of Israel still live.

From February 21, 2025:

Today a new Dead Sea flows in Israel.

Not from the Jordan River.

Not named for the lack of life within its waters.

It is sea made from the tears that have poured out without end over the last two days as we faced the horrific deaths of Ariel and Kfir Bibas.

Emotions swirl and bubble inside us as we wrestle with the anger, grief, rage and sadness that their deaths present for all of us. For so many, these two boys represented the complete lack of humanity and decency within our enemies. Who would take two children, ages 4 years and 9 months, at gunpoint from their home, drag them through the desert, along with their mother, and hold them in captivity?

“Despite all that we have suffered, all the pain that we feel, the last thing we should ever consider is to give up hope.”

Every time we saw protests lionizing Hamas, we asked ourselves, who would support those who would do this to young children? How much do they hate Jews that they can justify the abductions of Ariel and Kafir? It is a permanent mark of shame on the Red Cross, the U.N., Doctors Without Borders and every other nonprofit that failed to search or show compassion for these two red-headed boys.

At the same time, their faces filled with life gave us hope. We hoped and prayed until the final confirmation that somehow, some way, they would survive this terrifying ordeal and return. That at least one Gazan would have the courage of those Germans who stood up during Nazi Germany, risking their lives to save or protect Jews, and they would help save this mother and her two boys. There is an entire forest in Jerusalem dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations — to those who resisted the Nazis. Among 2 million people, there has not been a single righteous Gazan to stand up and identify a hostage. Not one.

The confirmation of Ariel and Kafir’s deaths casts a shadow over us all. Many have been in a daze for the last two days, finding it hard to focus, emotions churning beneath the surface and avoiding the news or social media, knowing that those outlets will only enrage us further. How dare they be called captives and not hostages? How can anyone note their deaths without saying they were murdered? How is everyone on planet earth not weeping beside us!?

How are we to move on, to live and to experience joy with all this sadness?

Elie Wiesel spoke about the ritual they had within the concentration camps — to gather small bits of wax, bread and juice, that they could make Shabbat each week. When asked why, he said it was important, even in those bleakest of times to say L’Chaim, to life. To keep the spark of hope alive.

Along those lines, Rabbi Emil Fackenheim, created the 614th commandment: “Thou shalt not grant Hitler a posthumous victory.”

Despite all that we have suffered, all the pain that we feel, the last thing we should ever consider is to give up hope. To forget our rituals. To leave behind the traditions that we have been carrying on for generations.

Every time we celebrate Shabbat or a holiday, every time we say a blessing, every time we sing a prayer, we show that our enemies have failed. That includes everyone from the Babylonians and Romans to the Nazis and Hamas. For as long as we embrace our Judaism, we remain the ultimate victors.

While the joy of Passover may not reach the heights of years past, know that should your voice crack or tears stain your cheeks, they are but marks that we have not forgotten those we have lost. They remain with us. Ariel, Kfir, and all those whose lives have been taken during this bloody conflict, and by our enemies across the generations. With our hearts and our voices, we will honor them all by showing that our enemies have not won.

We live on. Am Yisrael Chai.

Rabbi Adam Miller serves at Temple Shalom.