In the Jewish tradition, 30 days of mourning is a significant milestone in the mourning cycle after losing a loved one. It’s called Shloshim and counting from the massacre of October 7th, that day is today.
As you work through the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – you understand that it’s not a formula and it’s also not linear. You can jump around the stages. You can feel all those things in one day and then you can remain stuck in a stage for days and weeks, wondering if this is what your life now looks like forever. Some say it takes a least a year to work through the stages but sometimes it takes even longer. Thirty days is thought to be the time when you can feel more ready to embrace the routines of regular life and begin to try to integrate your grief with the new version of you and what your new life will be. But of course, sometimes 30 days is just not enough to do that at all.
Many in Israel are still living the nightmare. Still waiting to hear any piece of news about their loved ones that will give them some closure or certainty. Some are waiting for their loved ones, held hostage to be released, while others are waiting to know where they are – confirmed hostage or missing or dead?
Today, day 30, was marked in Raanana, the city where I live, with a meaningful initiative to paint the town yellow, started by Maya Grunberg. Yellow is the international colour of support for hostages. It originated in 1979 when a group of US citizens were taken hostage in the US embassy in Tehran. Maya arranged for a group of volunteers to tie yellow ribbons on cars and on street poles so that we always keep our hostages in mind and remember that our key priority is to bring them home.
We’re wearing yellow bracelets, tying yellow ribbons everywhere, hanging Israeli flags outside every house and building. Our streets, our hearts, our minds are focused on bringing our hostages home.
Still praying for safety and peace, every day.
Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱
#bringthemhomenow #amyisraelchai #istandwithisrael