We will not be spilling The Chai Tea today...

To the Beautiful Community of The Chai Tea,

I know that you are gutted, shattered, and in utter disbelief about the news we woke up to (or went to bed to) this morning/last night.

For ten months we’ve all believed that each and every one of our hostages would come home. Today it feels as if that hope has been taken from us. And in this moment, maybe it was.

But we can’t give up hope. We cannot.

There are still 101 hostages being held in Gaza—-66 are believed to be alive and 35 are known to have been killed already. But we cannot forget about them.

We cannot.

Additionally, we cannot stand and point fingers and put blame for this. We cannot let this tragedy divide our community.

We cannot.

If we do, then the terrorists win.

I was at a walk this morning and and Eve Levy who is the Co-Director of the L’Chayim Center here on the North Shore of Chicago said many very profound things….as she always does…but there is one sentiment in particular that she shared that I want to share with you.

Eve said, “Hamas has brought out the worst in so many people. But Hamas has brought out the best in us.”

Please think about that. They do not get to win. We cannot give them the satisfaction of watching our house divide. We cannot let them take another single universe from us. We cannot let them win.

WE CANNOT.

And that is why we must continue to march forward…together. There is no other option.

Given the awful news our community faces today, I will not be sharing a normal edition of The Chai Tea this week.

Please take care of yourself and know that you are not alone. We are family, all 15.7 million of us, and family takes care of one another.

Sending each of you so much love,

Lindsay Pinchuk, Founder of The Chai Tea