JNS
“As we gather here tonight, extensive efforts are being made to bring about a new hostage deal,” said Michael Herzog, the Israeli envoy in Washington.
At a Chanukah celebration at the Israeli embassy in Washington on Wednesday night, getting choked up while talking about the plight of the hostages was a bipartisan experience.
Both Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, paused to compose themselves as they addressed the audience.
“For millions of Jewish men, women and children across the entire world, Chanukah is a sacred time. One where they can reflect on the ideals of Judaism and rededicate themselves to their faith,” Foxx said.
“This year, Chanukah does look different for millions of Jews around the world, as Israel continues to defend itself and the Jewish people from the darkness and the barbarism of Hamas,” she said. “Even amid the fight against that shroud of darkness, which I wholeheartedly believe Israel will win in the end, we know that light will still be found, and it still will be shared with other people.”
While reading a quote about the human ability to find and share light to dispel the darkness, Foxx’s voice audibly shook.
“Let me say this loud and clear,” she said. “I will never stop standing with the Jewish people and for the state of Israel. America, the State of Israel and the Jewish people should always remain in lockstep with one another. Anything else is unacceptable.”
At the end of the ceremony, Shlomo Toaff, senior vice president and head of the air defense systems division at Rafael whose son Daniel Mimon Toaff, 23, was killed in action in Gaza, read a prayer for the hostages in Hebrew. Kirby, the White House adviser, followed with an English rendition of the prayer.
Kirby read the prayer, using the Hebrew pronunciation of “Moshe” and “Shlomo” amid references to “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Moshe and Aaron, David and Shlomo, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah.” When Kirby said, “may He remove their bondage and deliver them from their affiliations,” he appeared visibly overcome with emotion.
The White House adviser concluded with, “am Israel chai.”
In his remarks, Michael Herzog, the outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United States, told the audience that “Chanukah is a beloved Jewish holiday,” which “is ever more meaningful in the period in which we live today, a period of a long, tough and tragic war, which was forced on the State of Israel 14 months ago on Oct. 7.”
“The story of Chanukah is a story of the Jewish people fighting for survival, both physical and spiritual, against strong forces bent on our destruction,” he said. Although that story has repeated throughout Jewish history, “our people have always, always, found inner strength to survive, to rise as a phoenix from the ashes and to give a new brighter future,” he said.
“Chanukah is a festival of joy and of hope. Since Oct. 7, we have not had one day of joy and celebration, except for those moments in which we saw the return of hostages to their homes to Israel,” Herzog said. “Over the past 14 months, joy has been replaced with pain.”
“As we gather here tonight, extensive efforts are being made to bring about a new hostage deal, and we pray and hope that it will be successful and that we will see our people home soon,” he said. “The main message of Chanukah during this challenging time is never lose hope. Always look for the light that will dispel the darkness. And when you look for it, you will ultimately find it.”
Herzog noted the symbolism that his first event as ambassador and Wednesday’s, which is his last as Israeli envoy in Washington, both marked Chanukah. “We started with light. We end with hope, but in the middle there was a lot of darkness,” he said.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) also addressed the audience, as did Howard Kohr, the outgoing longtime head of AIPAC who was presented with a certificate. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, also attended the event.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege here all these years working on a sacred cause with so many men and women in this room,” Kohr said.
Goldman told the audience that “I understand from a conversation with Adm. John Kirby tonight that there is progress being made on a deal that would release at least some of the hostages.”
“It is more important than ever that right now, in addition to the United States, democratic nations around the globe who oppose terrorism must increase pressure on Hamas to release the hostages,” the congressman said. “We must bring them all home, and we must bring them home now.”
