4 | OCTOBER 19 • 2023 
J
N

from the Executive Director
Our Duty to Our Community 
F

irst, I would like to send blessings 
and strength to all of you, your 
friends and family as we go through 
these horrendous, unprecedented times. 
I’m sending prayers to all of our people 
who are in harm’s way. May 
God keep them safe.

Like you, I have been 
both devastated and 
speechless by the events 
in Israel. But at the same 
time, I have been truly 
touched, although not 
surprised, by the way this 
community has shown its support for our 
homeland. From vigils to demonstrations 
to donations of funds, supplies and time, 
our passion and generosity have, once 
again, proven to be boundless.
The Detroit Jewish News team has 
been working tirelessly over the past 
two weeks to bring you, our loyal 
readers, stories that matter to the Detroit 
community. As a weekly publication, the 
print edition you are reading today was 
finalized six days ago. Breaking news 

and details about what’s happening on 
the ground in Israel can be found on our 
free website — TheJewishNews.com — 
where, at the top of our homepage, we 
have a continuous stream of accounts 
from the frontlines and around the 
world. We are constantly updating it 
with information from many news 
publications and wire services. 
Our mission at the Detroit Jewish News 
is to bring our community together — in 
good times and bad — and to provide a 
place where Jews can feel united. There 
are a myriad of other sources online that 
discuss military strategy or provide analysis 
of policies and political leaders. You will not 
find those things here. 
According to our Mission Statement, 
found in the paper each week on page 6, 
the Jewish News strives to “inform and 
educate the Jewish and general community 
to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish 
people of greater Detroit and beyond, and 
the State of Israel.”
In keeping with that mission, what you 
will find here are the personal stories 

that affect Metro Detroit, stories of our 
community coming together to support 
Israel and each other in the wake of 
unspeakable horror — which I believe is 
just as impoprtant as breaking news.
We know that many in our community 
have strong ties to Israel. We hope and 
pray that all your friends and family are 
safe. If you have lost a loved one to this 
violence, however, we want you to know 
that you are not alone. We collectively 
share in your grief. As such, we are 
establishing a “Remembrance” page 
for those with ties to the Metro Detroit 
community who have lost their lives in 
the ongoing conflict. You can send an 
email to jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com. 
One final note — our community is 
hurting. Even those who haven’t been 
touched personally by the tragic events 
are still devastated by what they see in 
the news and on social media. Please, 
continue to be patient with one another, 
show empathy and be kind. We are 
stronger together. 
Am Yisrael Chai. 

Marni Raitt
Executive 
Director

PURELY COMMENTARY

essay
Letter from Jerusalem: We Are Not Okay 
T

hey say the night is darkest 
before dawn. It certainly is very 
dark right now. 

 I pray that dawn is coming soon. It 
better be. Because the darkness is bleak, 
palpable, encompassing. 
As I write these words on 
Oct. 12, 1,300 Israelis are 
dead, 2,900 are injured, 
and 500 are hospitalized 
with life-threatening inju-
ries. These numbers climb 
daily because corpses are 
strewn about the devastat-
ed communities near the Gazan border, 
and identifying the dead is time- 
consuming. 
Some 150 men, women and children 
were abducted by terrorists and are held 
hostage in Gaza, including the son of 
friends. Graphic images of the massa-

cres that I shouldn’t watch pop up in 
my stand-with-Israel social media feed, 
revealing bloodied, violated women, 
naked bodies, terrified children. My 
throat tightens when I learn that 40 
babies were killed in their own pastoral 
homes. My hands shake as I type, some 
were decapitated. Even volunteers for 
ZAKA, an emergency response orga-
nization that identifies causalities of 
accidents and terrorist attacks, describe 
encountering “gruesome carnage that 
smelled like death.
” 

 On Oct. 7, the greatest number of 
Jews were killed since the Holocaust. 
Israel is a small country. Our death toll, 
proportionally, would be the equivalent 
of 33,000 U.S. citizens killed in 9-11. 
Various analogies have been bandied 
about. The Israel-Gaza War now is a 
repeat of the surprise and horror of the 

Ruth 
Ebenstein

continued on page 6

GILYA BEN GAD

Teens in Jerusalem collect groceries for Israel Defense 
Forces soldiers and families from the Gaza border.

AMIT GOTTSTEIN

