American Friends of Neve Hanna

10/14/2026

10/08/2026

FROM TRAUMA TO MEANING: Raising Jewish Children in Israel After Three Years of War.
By Rabba Liron Rosensaft Levy
https://afnevehanna.org/2026/09/29/from-trauma-to-meaning/

Every Friday evening, a few minutes before sunset, I watch our children gather around the Shabbat table. Some arrive laughing, some quietly, and some still carrying the weight of a difficult week. Then the candles are lit, blessings are recited, and voices begin to sing. For a little while, every child knows they have a place. After three years of war, I have come to believe that these simple moments of belonging are among the most powerful acts of healing we can offer.

At Neve Hanna, the reality of war has met children whose lives were already shaped by loss, instability, and broken trust. Long before they heard the sound of sirens, many had learned that the world could feel uncertain.

As their rabbi, I often ask myself: What does Judaism have to offer these children now?

Not the promise that pain will disappear. It cannot. Rather, Judaism offers a way to transform pain into purpose. Throughout our history, the Jewish people have endured exile, destruction, and heartbreak. Yet we responded by building communities, gathering around Shabbat tables, teaching our children, and choosing hope over despair.

That is the Judaism I want our children to inherit—not a Judaism defined by trauma, but one shaped by resilience, compassion, and responsibility. This vision guides the year ahead.

We are proud that our children are part of a vibrant Jewish community that extends well beyond Neve Hanna. Together, we create meaningful Jewish experiences that are joyful, thoughtful, and deeply rooted in Jewish tradition while encouraging curiosity, leadership, and a lasting sense of belonging.

Every Shabbat will continue to be a place where children feel seen and embraced. Our holiday celebrations will invite them to explore timeless questions: What does freedom mean? How do we find courage? How do we rebuild after brokenness? Our B’nai Mitzvah program will continue to emphasize personal growth, responsibility, and discovering each child’s unique voice within the Jewish people. Beyond the classroom, children will encounter Judaism through music, art, nature, volunteering, and acts of loving kindness—learning that Jewish identity is not only something we study, but something we live.

The Talmud teaches that “Whoever saves one life, it is as though they have saved an entire world.” Working with children has taught me that a world is rarely rebuilt through one dramatic act. More often, it is rebuilt through hundreds of quiet moments: remembering a birthday, listening without judgment, singing one more Shabbat song, believing in a child before that child believes in themselves.

As I walk through Neve Hanna, I find myself thinking less about what our children have survived and more about the remarkable people they are becoming. I see kindness growing from hardship, generosity born from longing, and hope quietly taking root.

My prayer for the coming year is not that our children will forget the years behind them, but that they will carry them differently. May they come to know that they are created b’tzelem Elohim—in the image of God—that they are deeply loved, that their voices matter, and that their lives can become a source of blessing for others. If we can help them believe this, then we are doing far more than educating Jewish children. We are helping shape a generation that will carry the Jewish story forward with courage, compassion, and hope.

By Rabba Liron Rosensaft Levy Every Friday evening, a few minutes before sunset, I watch our children gather around the Shabbat table. Some arrive laughing, some quietly, and some still carrying th…

10/08/2026

October 7: Three Years Later — We Remember. We Stand Together.

Three years have passed since October 7, 2023—a day that forever changed Israel, the Jewish people, and so many families and communities around the world.

At Neve Hanna, the impact was immediate and deeply personal. Children already carrying difficult experiences suddenly faced a new reality of sirens, uncertainty, fear, and loss. The people who care for them faced those same fears while continuing to provide the stability, reassurance, and sense of home our children needed.

Three years later, we honor those forever changed by October 7. And we remain beside those who continue to heal.

We remember the lives lost, the fallen IDF soldiers, the hostages and their families, our Israeli brothers and sisters whose lives were forever changed, and all those who continue to carry the pain of October 7.

For the children of Neve Hanna, healing does not happen all at once. It happens in the everyday moments—in feeling safe, being heard, sharing a meal, celebrating Shabbat, returning to a familiar routine, and knowing there are people who will continue to show up for them.

That is the promise of Neve Hanna: to keep showing up.

As American Friends of Neve Hanna, we remain committed to standing with our children and the remarkable people who surround them with care, compassion, and love every day.

Three years later, we carry the memories with us.

But we also carry something else: the determination to keep building, caring, believing, and choosing hope.

We are deeply grateful to the many friends, families, Rabbis, FJMC International Men’s Clubs, Women's League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ) Sisterhoods, and communities who responded when the Neve Hanna Emergency Fund was established in the days following October 7. Your generosity provided critical support when it was needed most—and the fact that people continue to give three years later is a powerful reminder that our children have not been forgotten.

Thank you for standing with Neve Hanna then, for standing with us today, and for helping ensure that our children never face the future alone.

May the memories of those we lost be a blessing.

We remember. We stand together.
Am Yisrael Chai.

Janet and Irwin, Co-Presidents
American Friends of Neve Hanna

10/07/2026

Three years later, we remember.

We remember the lives lost, the fallen IDF soldiers, the hostages and their families, our Israeli brothers and sisters whose lives were forever changed, and all those who continue to carry the pain of October 7.

May the memories of those we lost be a blessing.

We remember. We stand together.
Am Yisrael Chai. 🇮🇱
www.afnevehanna.org

10/07/2026

Reflections on October 7
By Rabbi Noam Raucher, MA.Ed
Executive Director, FJMC International

https://fjmc.org/2026/10/05/reflections-on-october-7/

October 7 comes around again, and the question is not whether the pain is still there. It is. The question is: What are we doing with it?

Brother, pain does not disappear simply because we refuse to speak about it. We can bury it under work, responsibility, anger, distraction, silence, or the insistence that we are fine. But unaddressed pain has a way of finding another language. It can become impatience. Cynicism. Withdrawal. Rage. Numbness. It can harden the way we speak to the people closest to us and narrow the way we see the world. And there is another danger: we can begin to build an identity around our pain.

What happened hurt us. What happened frightened, enraged, and changed us. But when pain becomes the primary lens through which we understand everyone and everything, it asks too much of us. We begin carrying yesterday’s wound into every new encounter. We become suspicious where we once were curious. Defensive where we once were open. Certain where we once knew how to listen.

Holding onto pain can feel like loyalty. Sometimes letting go can even feel like betrayal—as though healing means that what happened no longer mattered. But letting go is not forgetting. It is not excusing. It is not pretending the wound never existed. Letting go means deciding that the people who hurt us, the events that shattered us, and the memories that haunt us will not be given permanent authority over the people we become.

Pain on the other side of healing is still pain. But it becomes different. It becomes a scar instead of an open wound. A scar remembers. It tells the truth about what happened. But you can touch it without bleeding. Perhaps that is part of our work on this anniversary: not to ask ourselves whether we have stopped hurting, but whether our hurt is still controlling us.

Can our grief deepen our compassion rather than shrink it? Can our anger become responsibility rather than destruction? Can our fear teach us what we value without teaching us to fear everyone? And can we remember October 7 without allowing October 7 to determine every October that follows? We owe that much to those we lost. And perhaps we owe it to ourselves as well.

In Brotherhood,
Rabbi Noam Raucher, MA.Ed
Executive Director, FJMC International
Friendship. Judaism. Mentorship. Community.

10/07/2026

On October 7, we mourn those murdered and taken hostage three years ago in Hamas’ terror attacks. We remember their lives and grieve with the families and communities who carry their absence every day. We will not let their memory fade.

In addition to advocating for Israel and Jewish communities around the world, AEPi brothers are, once again, demonstrating “Strength Through Service” as undergraduate brothers organize and conduct philanthropy and community-building programs on campuses across North America. Last year, the Strength Through Service initiative resulted in nearly 10,000 hours of community service.

May our brothers' leadership and advocacy play a meaningful role in remembering and preserving the promise of Eretz Yisrael. May those in danger come home safely. May peace come soon.

AEPi Stands With Israel
Am Yisrael Chai!

10/07/2026

10/07/2026

October 7: Three Years Later — We Remember. We Stand Together.

Three years have passed since October 7, 2023—a day that forever changed Israel, the Jewish people, and so many families and communities around the world.

At Neve Hanna, the impact was immediate and deeply personal. Children already carrying difficult experiences suddenly faced a new reality of sirens, uncertainty, fear, and loss. The people who care for them faced those same fears while continuing to provide the stability, reassurance, and sense of home our children needed.

Three years later, we honor those forever changed by October 7. And we remain beside those who continue to heal.

We remember the lives lost, the fallen IDF soldiers, the hostages and their families, our Israeli brothers and sisters whose lives were forever changed, and all those who continue to carry the pain of October 7.

For the children of Neve Hanna, healing does not happen all at once. It happens in the everyday moments—in feeling safe, being heard, sharing a meal, celebrating Shabbat, returning to a familiar routine, and knowing there are people who will continue to show up for them.

That is the promise of Neve Hanna: to keep showing up.

As American Friends of Neve Hanna, we remain committed to standing with our children and the remarkable people who surround them with care, compassion, and love every day.

Three years later, we carry the memories with us.

But we also carry something else: the determination to keep building, caring, believing, and choosing hope.

We are deeply grateful to the many friends, families, Rabbis, FJMC International Men’s Clubs, Women's League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ) Sisterhoods, and communities who responded when the Neve Hanna Emergency Fund was established in the days following October 7. Your generosity provided critical support when it was needed most—and the fact that people continue to give three years later is a powerful reminder that our children have not been forgotten.

Thank you for standing with Neve Hanna then, for standing with us today, and for helping ensure that our children never face the future alone.

May the memories of those we lost be a blessing.

We remember. We stand together.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Janet and Irwin, Co-Presidents
American Friends of Neve Hanna

Three Years Later: We Remember. We Stand Together. Three years have passed since October 7, 2023—a day that forever changed Israel, the Jewish people, and so many families and communities around th…