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Dear John,

The Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah begins tonight at sundown. Whether or not you are Jewish and regardless of whether you observe the holiday, these next two days provide a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed and to think about what we seek to accomplish in the year ahead.

I spent the last week in Israel with two dozen ADL volunteer leaders. We traveled the country, met with the families of victims and individuals still being held hostage in Gaza, engaged with civil society and governmental leaders, spent time with many ethnic and religious minorities and grieved during visits to Kibbutz Nir Oz and the Nova Festival site.

And yet, one of the most memorable moments was our visit to the southern city of Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in the country. It doesn’t show up on the itinerary of a typical mission to Israel. But we took the time in order to meet with Yunis Alkarnawi, a local Bedouin and father of six.

With humility and a matter-of-fact manner, this ordinary man shared an extraordinary October 7 tale that left all of us shaking.

Employed as the manager of a dairy farm in Reim, Yunis learned of the bedlam that was breaking out in real time. The details were hazy, but he immediately hid the 24 Thai workers who worked at the farm, keeping them safe. Shortly afterwards, eight wounded teenagers fleeing the Nova concert sought refuge at the farm. Yunis took them in without hesitation, sheltering and feeding them.

When Hamas terrorists came to the farm just minutes later and demanded that he give them “the Jews,” Yunis refused to allow the marauders on the farm. They pressed him and he did not budge. Despite their guns and threats, Yunis held them off with instinctive bravery and quick thinking. He put his own life at risk and managed to save the lives of every single person on the farm.

His story left us in shock. Amidst the countless accounts of the horror of that day, we’ve heard virtually no stories of righteous gentiles — non-Jewish individuals who took risks to save their besieged Jewish neighbors. Yunis Alkarnawi was the first such valiant person who I have met since October 7. His story will stay with me for the rest of my life.

As I fly home from Israel, I can’t stop thinking about Yunis. I imagine what was going through the mind of this father and husband when terrorists threatened him, pressing him to hand over the Jews that they knew he was hiding. His courage isn’t inspiring; it’s unimaginable. And in that moment, for all the grief and suffering of the past two years, this humble farmer reminded me of what is possible. In a season of darkness, his story was a beam of radiant, irrepressible light.

This year, I hope that all of us can draw on Yunis’ example to tap our own reserves of courage.

The courage to defend ourselves and our most cherished values — compassion, equality, justice, Zionism — without apology or reluctance. The courage to maintain our fight against antisemitism, extremism and hate no matter what the odds and who should oppose us. The courage to ask hard, responsible questions of those people in power. The courage to demonstrate empathy for all who have suffered whether in Israel, Gaza or anywhere. The courage to engage with and listen to those with whom we disagree on the issues we hold most dear. The courage to look inward and admit when we are wrong and the fortitude to double down when we are right.

The courage to remember that the most powerful weapon against hate is love, that the most powerful remedy for ignorance is knowledge, that the most effective defense against those who seek to promote division is unity.

As we forge ahead, all of us at ADL are indebted to you for your courage. We are humbled to have your support and trust in this struggle for a better world. We can’t promise that we will always get it right, but we can promise that we will summon the courage to do our very best to honor our timeless mission and core purpose in service of that trust.

We send you and yours wishes of health and happiness in the year to come. May it bring a release of the hostages, an end to suffering on all sides and a bounty of peace and prosperity to people around the world.
Onward,

Jonathan Greenblatt
CEO and National Director
ADL

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