Copy of words from Israel 4- 13th October 2025

irissadeh
Oct 16
4 min read

A New Beginning ✨

“Sadness has no end, but happiness does” — so begins an old and beloved Portuguese song. But that’s not what I feel today, October 13, 2025. Today I feel infinite happiness — deep, overwhelming, almost impossible to contain. Happiness that keeps me awake, makes me forget to eat, keeps me glued to the screen, asking myself: How can one heart hold so much goodness?

Two years have passed since the war began, and today — the last hostages are coming home. There is a ceasefire. The war is over. And tomorrow — we begin to rebuild, to start anew.

Memory and Reminder

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, a Hamas–Daesh terror squad infiltrated Israel. The date fell on Simchat Torah, the day when the yearly cycle of reading the Torah ends and immediately begins again —a day of light that shattered in an instant into darkness.

On that day, more than 1,300 people were brutally murdered, most of them civilians. Families attacked in their homes, young people celebrating at a music festival, soldiers standing guard. The atrocities were unprecedented. Over 8,000 were wounded, and more than 200 were kidnapped to Gaza. It was a day of national devastation — the largest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.

Since that day, Israel has lived in survival mode. And I, like so many others, have lived in a state of both–and: both fear and hope, both tears and doing. Over these two years I supported the family of Alon Ohel, my own family, and my community. I kept teaching at the university, developing my work in mindful leadership, and trying — simply — to keep living.

The Day After

And what happened today, October 13, 2025? Once again — Simchat Torah. Once again — an ending and a beginning. A few days earlier, an agreement was signed — brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and supported by three Arab nations. The war ended. Twenty living hostages returned home, along with twenty-eight who were killed, and in exchange, Israel released 2,000 prisoners, some involved in deadly terror attacks. It was a painful agreement — but it ended the war.

When I heard that they were all coming home, I couldn’t hold back the tears. It felt like a bleeding wound finally beginning to heal. For two years, the hostages were part of every Israeli home — their names, their faces, their families’ stories. They became part of us.

Alon Ohel, 24, from the small community of Levon — a young musician accepted to study at the Rimon School —was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. For months, no one knew whether he was alive. Only after a year and a half did testimonies emerge that he had been seen alive, though he had lost sight in one eye. Later, Hamas released a short video — Alon thin, pale, with terrified eyes that said everything.

His family never stopped fighting. They sent music into the world with the message: “Alon, you are not alone.”They organized concerts, prayers, and meditations — becoming a symbol of relentless hope and unconditional love.

The Historic Day

Two days ago it happened. At six in the morning I turned on the television. By nine, the first group of hostages had landed; by eleven, the rest. At noon, President Trump landed in Israel and spoke in the Knesset. He ended his speech with the words: “A new beginning.”

And that’s exactly what it is. A new beginning. The hostages will now face a long process of healing; we too will need to learn how to breathe again.

I wish for myself — and for all of us:

That my two-and-a-half-year-old grandson will grow up without asking when the next alarm will sound.
That my one-year-old granddaughter will not remember the dozens of times she spent in a shelter since birth.
That we return to dealing only with “ordinary problems.”
That I may return, more than ever, to my work in mindful leadership, because now it’s needed more than ever.
That I continue to support my three dear friends who lost their sons (among the 920 soldiers who fell in the last two years).
And that I hold on to the optimism that carried me through most of these two years.

Words of Gratitude

To end — and to begin again. My heart is full of gratitude for the many circles that surrounded me throughout these two years. To my sisters in Shakti Leadership, my partners in Lead True, my friends in Kiva Circle, and the many friends from Conscious Capitalism, in Israel and around the world. Thank you for your calls, your embraces, for offering your homes, and for keeping your hearts open — in the hardest and most beautiful moments alike. Your support was a beacon of light for me.

And finally, in the words of Alon Ohel —the song that sustained him through 735 days in captivity: