10/07/2026
"It has been three yearsâ1,096 daysâsince a dark curtain fell over Israel, changing the face of this land and its people forever.
These have been three years of rupture and crisis and searing pain and clinging grief that hasnât let goâa national trauma that has touched every one of us. Three years have passed, and the longest day in Israelâs history has still not truly seen daylight.
And yet, through it all, we have seen real lightâkindness, outstretched hands, and demonstrations of peoplehood, unprecedented solidarity, and humanity. Even as an entire nation was swept into internal strife, bitter political conflict, and mounting despair, that light kept breaking through the fog. Itâs what I hold onto and what gives me hope.
Light, by its nature, spreads. It reaches into every corner and wraps people in warmth. And that has been the finest comfort the JCC Movement has offered during the past three years, even as the warâs second front and antisemitism and Jew hatred spread rapidly across the world."
Leah Garber is a senior vice president of Jewish Community Centers of North America (JCCs) and director of its Center for Israel Engagement in Jerusalem.
By Leah Garber It has been three yearsâ1,096 daysâsince a dark curtain fell over Israel, changing the face of this land and its people forever. These have been three years ⌠Continued
