Today, I am ashamed. I am ashamed of myself and I am actually ashamed of all of us here in Israel, who haven't done enough to help Ari.
Where is the logic? Well, that's where it gets even more bizarre than it is already. He is in jail because he knows classified information about the war that he is not allowed to share with Netanyahu, who is now protecting the State of Israel from at least seven brutal Jew-hating demented and powerful enemies.
And just in case you though he is getting cushy treatment in jail, take one look at his haunted face and his eyes and you can see they have broken him.
And let's be honest– when it comes to breaking people, the Shin Bet is outstanding at what it does – which is great when they're on your side, but not so great when they turn the their full force against you. That's when you come out looking haunted, like Ari does.
There's a particular kind of betrayal that cuts deeper than others - when those who sacrifice everything for their nation find themselves crushed by the very system they sought to protect. This is the story of Ari Rosenfeld, and it's a stain on Israel's conscience that grows darker with each passing day.
For ten years - 3,650 days of unwavering service - Rosenfeld stood guard over Israel's most sensitive secrets. When October 7th's horrors unfolded, he worked tirelessly in the shadows, performing duties so critical they remain classified. And how do we repay this dedication? By throwing him into a cell, breaking his spirit, and watching his eyes grow hollow with a particular kind of despair that only the Shin Bet knows how to engineer.
The cruel irony cuts to the bone: Tomer Bar, the head of Shin Bet himself, has declared Rosenfeld poses zero security threat. The very organization that exists to identify threats to national security has cleared him. Yet he remains behind bars, denied his freedom for the Kafkaesque crime of knowing too much about the war - information he allegedly tried to ensure reached the Prime Minister himself.
The absurdity compounds: we keep him locked away because he possesses sensitive information about a war where Israel faces seven implacable enemies. Information that, by all accounts, he tried to ensure reached those who needed to know it most. In what twisted logic does this serve national security?
Every ordinary moment of our lives - every school pickup, every shopping trip, every morning prayer - stands in stark contrast to Rosenfeld's reality. While we go about our routines, a man who gave a decade of his life to protect those very routines sits in isolation, branded a traitor for trying to protect his nation.
Our silence makes us complicit. Every day we fail to speak up, fail to demand justice, fail to question this perversion of security protocol, we betray not just Ari Rosenfeld, but the very principles of justice our nation claims to uphold.
This isn't just about one man anymore. It's about who we are as a nation, and what we're willing to tolerate in the name of security. Every day Rosenfeld remains imprisoned is another day we fail not just him, but ourselves.
It's gotten to the point that angry articles aren't going to help Ari.
So I'm turning to you.
What can YOU do to help Ari?
Daven to Hashem. He is all-good and all-knowing. Pray for Ari to be released already.
Do a mitzvah in his zchut.
Say Tehilim for him: Aharon ben Hinda Esther Gittel – Psalms 20, 22, 69, 119 (according to the letters of his name) and 123
Don't forget that every day we are sitting here, living our lives, doing our shopping, picking up kids, going to work, going to learn, Ari is languishing in captivity, his mental health getting worse by the second.
He deserves better.
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