100 is a big number.
If you get 💯 on your test you feel you have accomplished a great feat.
In Judaism 100 is represented by the the letter Kuf which is the first letter of the word Kedusha or holiness.
That too is a word denoting completeness.
January 14, 2024 will equal 100.
But it is not a time of accomplishment or sanctity.
It will mark the passage of 100 days since the hostages have been abducted.
Rachel Goldberg, the mother of Hersh Goldberg Polin has taken to noting each day of her son’s captivity by taking a little piece of masking tape, writing the number in black marker, and wearing it on her shirt over her heart.
Rachel is asking us to do the same on January 14 and post pictures to help raise awareness to bring her son Hersh home.
Where does she find the strength?
Hadas Levinshtern is the mother of six children and a recent widow, whose husband fell in Gaza battling Hamas.
She was recently visited by a group of fellow American Jews who were hoping to bring her some comfort. The indefatigable Shai Graucher brought gifts to the children and he was introducing the visitors to Hadas.
Then an unexpected turn of events occurred. Hadas was giving strength to her visitors. They were expressing their sympathy regarding her situation and she began strengthening them regarding theirs.
She was referencing the state of antisemitism in the US and especially on college campuses. She told her visitors that if anyone they know is scared and wants to take their mezuzah off their door or remove their Magen David necklace they should call her. She is offering to be a source of comfort and support to them to be proud Jews.
Where does she find the strength?
I just heard of two Israeli, only Hebrew speaking mothers, who want to fly to Washington DC in a desperate bid to engage with high ranking officials to plead on behalf of their daughters who are still hostages.
Where do they get their strength?

This week’s Torah portion is Bo.
It begins with the genealogy of those who will be the saviors of the Jewish people. It tells us who the ancestors are of the troika who will be the messengers of salvation.
Aaron, Miriam and Moses are the three who will play the critical roles of helping the Jewish people be redeemed from Egypt.
These three individuals were the children of Yocheved.
It makes one wonder what kind of mother could have raised such leaders.
We have a little information about Yocheved.
Last week we learned that the despot, Pharoah, had decreed death to all the baby boys as his sorcerers had informed him that his undoing would be at the hand of a Jewish boy.
But Pharoah was cunning in his plan and summoned the Jewish midwives to commit the devilish deed when they assisted in the birth. Our Sages teach us that one of those midwives was none other than Yocheved who quietly protested the plan. She refused to do the evil bidding but managed to give the excuse that the Jewish women give birth too quickly and by the time she arrives it is too late.
Yocheved was willing to risk her life and save the newborns.
But in the Torah she is given a nickname of Shifra.
Rashi, the major commentator on the Torah, identifies Shifra as Yocheved and says she was given this nickname because when the baby was born, she took the time to beautify and clean the baby before giving him to his mother. Shifra is from the same root word as leshafer, which in Hebrew means to beautify.
Yocheved was a bastion of strength in a horrific time. And even though her life was in danger, she was laser focused on her compassion for the other.
This kind of compassion and kindness is hereditary. Yocheved bequeathed it to her children, and with those qualities they were equipped to become Jewish leaders.
Sanctifying Gd’s name is a Mitzva. We hear of people who do so by dying for Gd rather than committing a cardinal sin such as murder.
Yocheved could have done that. She knew Gd’s will was not to kill the babies and she could have sacrificed her life.
But, in the words of Rabbi Y. Soloveitchik, dying to sanctify Gd’s name takes courage.
But you only have to do it once.
Living for the sanctification of Gd’s name, that takes much more strength and courage.
Because you have to be in the struggle, minute by minute, day by day, 100 days at a time.
Judaism is life centric.
Judaism is life affirming.
A Jew who wants to live a sanctified life will have to make hard choices, Yocheved choices, repeatedly, in order to maximize every minute granted on this planet.
Yocheved understood that she could use her strength and compassion to try and foil the evil plan and at the same time not lose sight of the love and compassion she could still share at that difficult moment.
That was Yocheved’s victory.
In another conversation Hadas Levinshtern explains to her interviewer that just that morning the army had returned to her the personal belongings of her recently fallen husband.
She said she cried her eyes out.
Until she noticed the time.
It was time to make lunch.
(In Israel lunch is the main meal and her children would be hungry,)
She decided she needs to make lunch, and a lunch her children will enjoy. Because the enemy has stolen her beloved husband from her, but they will not steal from her the capacity to make lunch for her children today or tomorrow.
Because that would be a win for the enemy.
So she will make lunch
And that will be her victory.
Where does she get the strength?
I think now we know.
May Day 100, January 14 turn out to be a day of celebration, but if it is not, let us stand in solidarity with Rachel Polin a “daughter of Yocheved” as she fights to bring her son home.
In the merit of the return of
Hersh Ben Perel Chana
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!