From Hostages to Hope & When Two Things Can Be True: A Conversation on Israel and Empathy

In a historic week for Israel and the Jewish people, Common Faith hosts Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jon Frankel pause their planned programming to reflect on the emotional return of hostages and what this moment means for Jewish identity, faith, and unity. With compassion and candor, they explore the deep mix of relief, grief, and moral reckoning that defines this chapter of Jewish life—asking how a people can celebrate freedom while confronting loss.. At the heart of their conversation is a profound truth: two things can be true at once. Love of Israel can coexist with critique; pride can live alongside pain; faith can hold both resilience and doubt. Rabbi Cosgrove shares his Yom Kippur sermon, Of Silver Platters and Mirrors, a stirring meditation on love for Israel, moral conscience, and the enduring call to hold empathy and self-defense in the same heart. Together, he and Jon offer a deeply human conversation on resilience, responsibility, and what it means to remain connected—to Israel, to community, and to common faith—in a divided world.