Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa taught that every person should have two pockets with a note in each. On one note should be written b’shvili nivra ha-olam – “the world was created for me.” On the other note should be written ve’anochi aphar va’ayfer – “I am but dust and ashes.” When feeling low or discouraged, one should reach into the pocket to find the words, “The world was created for me.” But when feeling high or mighty, one should reach into the other pocket to find the words, “I am but dust and ashes.”

As a Jewish people, we’ve become accustomed to holding contradictions, especially over the past two years. We’ve celebrated simchas – joyous occasions – under the shadow of rising antisemitism. Just weeks ago we marked the yartzeit of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust while rejoicing at the long overdue return of all living hostages.

And while we danced with the Torah on Simchat Torah this year, we still feel the scars of October 7 and two years of war etched on a generation of people in Israel, Gaza, and around the world.

There have been many moments in the last two years where it has been easier to see the world through the lens of dust and ashes.

I have met with young adults who are afraid to publicly wear a magen david – a Star of David – at work or tell their colleagues they are Jewish.

There are security guards stationed at our preschools, our synagogues, and our Jewish institutions. 

Antisemitism has increased dramatically in our K-12 schools and across the political ideological spectrum – from chants of globalize the intifada to public calls of not being beholden to the globalist class on Israel. 

Many Jewish people are struggling with a desire to embrace nuance and worry for the price they will pay for expressing views with complexity. If I share my support for Israel publicly, will I be ostracized by colleagues, classmates, and neighbors? If I am critical of the Israeli government or empathetic to the suffering of Palestinians, is there a place for me in legacy Jewish institutions? These are not hypothetical statements, but the very real feelings community members have expressed to me in just the last few weeks. 

Many of our Jewish institutions have spent two years almost singularly focused on combatting antisemitism and ensuring communal security. While these are serious concerns, as an organized Jewish community, we have oftentimes allowed these issues to monopolize the conversation and Jewish experience. But our world can’t be just dust and ashes all the time. We must also hold onto hope and look through the lens that the world was created for us. 

We must care as deeply, if not more, about what happens inside the walls of our day schools, synagogues, camps, and institutions as we care about the security at the front door. We have to be as invested in strengthening Jewish identity and Jewish pride as we are in calling out antisemitism.

When we keep a note in one pocket that says, “the world was created for me” and a note in the other pocket that says, “I am but dust and ashes,” they serve as a reality check, letting us know it could be better or it could be worse. But it’s actually more than that, it’s a charge to remember we are holding both. Both notes are always there, in our pockets. We are sitting in the balance between them. It’s not this or that. It’s this AND that. It’s that the world was created for us, AND we are but dust and ashes.

Our world has become so divided that we are forced into false dichotomies when instead we should be looking for connections and building understanding to break down internal Jewish communal divisions. Too often, we have reached a place where you must be wrong in order for me to be right. Where there is no middle ground. Where silos and echo chambers within our Jewish community divide us, and there are not enough opportunities to come together.

When Hillel and Shammai disagreed, the minority position was recorded alongside the halakah, the legal ruling. The Talmud teaches that eilu v’eilu divrei elohim chayim: these AND those are the words of the living God; our tradition has long validated multiple perspectives and interpretations. Pages of Talmud are layered with point and counterpoint; with each interpretation the page gets richer and more complex. So too, with Jewish community – we are not a monolith, and discussion across different experiences and viewpoints makes us stronger, not weaker. Just as in the time of the Talmud the rabbis sat around a table face-to-face debating the issues – healing division and bridging disagreement today starts with connection to one another. 

At the Federation, we are leaning into connection – deep and meaningful connection, striving to bring our community together.

Our Loeb Leadership Institute is underway with a cohort building deep connections with each other and with our institutions, creating a pipeline of leaders for the community.

In 2026, we will be launching a new program called Shared Table, connecting community members who hold different viewpoints for meaningful dialogue on the most challenging issues facing our Jewish community. 

We recently relaunched a Women’s Philanthropy division connecting women from across the community for meaningful programming. Our Ben Gurion Society and National Young Leadership Cabinet cohorts are the largest they have been in decades, bringing together leaders in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s to support the Federation’s impact. And, our legal affinity group – the Cardozo Society – connects hundreds of Jewish lawyers for learning and networking opportunities.

We are committed to deepening connections.

This is a time when many young Jewish people feel lonely and isolated. We are bringing kids together through our need-based camp scholarship program, making the transformative experience of Jewish overnight camp possible for 250 kids this past summer.

Our PJ Library® program sends Jewish books each month to 3,000 children under the age of 12, bringing Jewish stories into their homes and connecting families to our traditions. Last year, we expanded our in-person PJ programming, offering hundreds of young families across the community opportunities to connect with each other at peer-led events and in partnership with other local Jewish communal organizations.

And tonight, we are announcing a community leadership mission to Israel this coming April over Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut. This mission affirms our Seattle community’s commitment to the Israeli people, bearing witness to their experience of the last two years, while strengthening the bond between our two communities. I hope you will join us.

In the moment we live in, as a Jewish community we need connections with each other to build a thriving Jewish future. The Federation is the glue holding the fabric of a community together. But it starts with remembering that the world was created for us AND we are but dust and ashes. It’s always AND.

You AND me.

Combatting antisemitism, keeping our community safe, AND fostering Jewish joy.

Caring deeply about Israelis AND caring about innocent Palestinians caught in the war zone.

Engaging every person in this room AND those that couldn’t be here tonight.

Fighting for every Jewish child in the public schools to have an experience free of Jewish hate AND believing our Day Schools are vital for Jewish identity building and Jewish literacy.

Expressing our concerns about attacks on civil liberties and human rights AND not sacrificing our commitment to Jewish safety and inclusion.

Wrestling with one another AND truly listening with curiosity and compassion.

Being realistic about the challenges we face AND holding onto hope.

Believing the world can be a better place AND turning that belief into reality.

The world was created for us, AND we are but dust and ashes.

You AND me. All of us, together, building a stronger, more vibrant, joyful Seattle Jewish community.

Thank you.