It is so difficult to fathom that this October 7th will mark the second anniversary of  the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Since that infamous day in history, acheinu bnai yisrael have experienced unbearable pain, anguish and depression resulting from the cold blooded vicious murder and maiming of our Israeli brothers and sisters by Hamas.

This deep pain, unbearable suffering and profound loss, is exacerbated by the continued captivity of those precious souls still being being held hostage by Hamas in the dark damp hell-holes of Gaza.

The short and long-term impact of October 7th and its effect on Israeli families and society, and by extension world Jewry is profound.

The thought of so many innocent families who lost loved ones, the increased number of IDF soldiers now requiring extensive physical and emotional rehabilitation and the increased number of Israeli families and children who are currently being treated for psychological trauma defies the imagination.

If this heart wrenching pain is not enough to bare, October 7th also ignited a global firestorm of Jew-hatred and antisemitism, the likes of which are reminiscent of Nazi pogroms in Europe. These seismic antisemitic attacks have increased significantly over the past year and virtually every major country in the world is now questioning or withdrawing their support for Israel. Several countries have even taken recent actions to publicly isolate Israel politically, socially and economically on the global stage. A reality which I never thought I would experience in my lifetime.

At times, I ask myself….“can this nightmare really be happening”? How is it possible that everything changed so fast and on a dime…. making  our lives upside down,  and living in an environment of fear, uncertainty and insecurity.

On October 6th, Israel was experiencing relative calm (emphasizing “relative)  Then like a lightening bolt, October 7th happened and the black clouds of........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)