- Michael Balaban
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia President and CEO

On Sunday, we will celebrate Lag B’omer – the 33rd day of the Omer, which is the period between Passover and Shavuot. As we move from the bitter slavery in Egypt that we recall on Passover to the liberation we received when gifted the Torah on Mount Sinai for Shavuot, I am reminded of the never-ending hope of the Jewish people, and how this war will one day see us through to freedom.

On Monday, for Memorial Day, we will honor all of those in the United States who bravely fought to defend our country and our allies from scourges of hatred and terror. As we recall family members, friends and those in our community who have served so selflessly, we must also continue to pay tribute to all of those in Israel who are fighting each day for the right of the Jewish state to exist, as well as for the release of those still being held in captivity by Hamas.

While the rest of the world forgets about the massacre on Oct. 7 and the men, women and children living each day in fear, hidden away in tunnels or torture chambers somewhere in Gaza, we must speak their names. We must remember them. 

And while our local media remains relatively quiet, we must loudly remind the world of the names of the five American hostages still presumed to be alive in captivity: Edan Alexander, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Keith Siegel, Omer Neutra and Sagui Dekel-Chen.

And as we call for the liberation of our hostages, we continue to deal with blatant antisemitism, misinformation and distraction. This week, this animosity comes in the forms of the International Criminal Court deciding to prosecute Israeli leaders to further draw false moral equivalencies, new pro-Palestinian encampments popping up across Philadelphia and the governments of Ireland, Norway and Spain planning to formally recognize a Palestinian state – a symbolic gesture that only serves the notion that terrorism works and which hinders the actual possibilities of working towards peace. In spite of and because of this news, we must call out Hamas’ mission for what it is: not an effort to liberate the Palestinian people, but an attempt to wipe Jews from the face of the earth. 

This Memorial Day, I encourage you to bravely and fearlessly speak the names of the hostages, the victims and the soldiers in Israel. We are not free until they are.

And as we approach Shavuot in mid-June, may we once again be brought out of bondage into freedom, and find a renewed hope within ourselves and our people.

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