By Sara Klein Wagner
Sara Klein Wagner, President & CEO of the Jewish Federation of Louisville and the Trager Family JCC
As a people, the Jewish past abounds with joy and the most devasting and unthinkable tragedy. October 7 has now become part of the fabric of our history. We cannot yet absorb the magnitude of suffering of the victims: in Israel, in the diaspora and in the world. What we do know is that our bond with our community in Israel is stronger than what existed on October 6. Our destinies as Jews — whether Israelis or Americans — are inextricably threaded together as family. Because of those sacred bonds, we are also compelled to act.
October 7 is now part of our collective Jewish story, yet its aftermath is just beginning to unfold. Jewish Louisville declared Hineni, Here I am, on October 10 when we gathered as a community. We said Hineni on November 14 when dozens of us traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the historic March for Israel. And hundreds of you have already said Hineni — Here We Are— contributing to the Israel Emergency campaign which has now surpassed our goal of $1.5 million for humanitarian needs in Israel.
These generous dollars make a difference every second, every minute, every hour, every day, for a lifetime. We’ve helped 20,600 people gain access to updated communal bomb shelters and distributed more than 48,000 food packages — including 2,600 food deliveries made to Holocaust survivors. And nearly 110,000 volunteers have been mobilized to fulfill medical and food insecurities in Israel.
Last week I traveled to Washington to be with 290,000 others in a collective call to Bring the Hostages held in Gaza Home, and to stand against rising antisemitism and hatred here and around the world. While in D.C. I listened to Natan Sharansky, who 36 years ago organized the March for Soviet Jewry. Remembering how we’d gathered like this before, I felt comfort in not being alone. Within that massive crowd I ran into people I knew and people I felt an immediate connection with, but more importantly I felt safe and I felt at home — the same way I feel when I visit Israel.
Back in graduate school, a professor once taped two signs to the wall — “Israel is the Center of Jewish Life” and “American Jewry is the Center of Jewish Life — and asked that we stand closest to which of the two statements resonated more with each of us. We wrestled with the reality that it’s okay to have differing opinions. But during the D.C. rally, it was clear that those choices don’t matter now; they disappeared for me. Instead, I saw the faces of family members of hostages. Indeed, the pain they carried as they handed out posters of sons, daughters, fathers and mothers reminded me that the center of Jewish life is where each of us is at any given moment. It dwells in the homes of Israelis who live near the border with Gaza, with young people who worked for peace and who attended a music festival. It lives for the more than 200 souls in captivity as hostages – and yes, it lives in every one of us.
In 1987 I graduated from college and headed to Brandeis University to begin a master’s program in Jewish Communal Service. As part of my field placement at Harvard Hillel I staffed the student Soviet Jewry committee, which included sending busloads of students to D.C. in what would become – until last week — the largest-ever gathering of Jews in America. Standing on the National Mall 36 years ago we cried as one: “Let my people go!” And the walls did come tumbling down, as one million Soviet Jews were allowed to begin new lives in Israel, the U.S. and around the globe.
The story did not end there. Operation Exodus — the Jewish communal response for resettling these refugees — raised funds that changed and saved lives. Last week, standing on the National Mall, seeing the families of hostages and trying to absorb the changes that will now unfold for our children and grandchildren, is why I am so proud to join you all in saying Hineni: Here I Am.
Sara Klein Wagner is President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Louisville and the Trager Family JCC
