This week’s Progressive Judaism newsletter is now with subscribers and can be read here. We wanted to also share the important introductory message:

This week’s bulletin comes over 500 days after 7 October 2023.

Since that day, and all the days that have followed, we have found ourselves overcome with pain and sadness time and time again. Over the last few weeks, we have experienced relief as hostages were reunited with their families.

This week, we have found ourselves struggling to find any words of comfort as we were confronted with the devastating reality that Ariel, Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are not returning home alive. And with unbelievable cruelty, the body returned was not Shiri Bibas, but an unidentified body, Shiri must be brought home.

Each week since the ceasefire, as Shabbat has ended, we have held a vigil in one of our communities for the hostages who remain. This Shabbat, this space acts not only to think of those still captive but to mourn together. Details of how you can join are below. Please remember that our clergy in our communities are there for all those who need their care and may be struggling with the news at the moment.

Even at the happiest occasions, Judaism teaches us to remember that the world is not yet redeemed. Similarly, even at the saddest times, we remember that we must have hope for the future. In many ways, Tu Bishvat is the most optimistic of festivals, planting trees knowing it will be our children and not us who will benefit from them. So, in this bulletin, we also feature our communities marking this moment of the Jewish calendar with tree plantings and family sedarim emphasising a commitment to investing in the future.

• Picture courtesy of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.