Josh Mellits

Father/husband/brother/son. @JNFUSA Director Western FL&Orlando. MA/MBA @BrandeisU '19. @BU_Tweets '11. Media & MidEast enthusiast. Philly sports fan. Optimist.

[Dave Uram @MrUram]

This is the first time in the long, storied, proud history of Philadelphia professional sports that the Sixers and Flyers were swept in the same season.

This happened on back-to-back days, less than 24 hours apart, in the same arena —- Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philadelphia.

@SportsRadioWIP @KYWNewsradio

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

This Sukkot, lower your walls and lead with an open heart.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l, former Chief Rabbi of the UK, writes: “Joy doesn’t come from great houses of brick or stone; it doesn’t come from what we shut out, but from what we let in. Joy comes from a roof open to heaven, a door open to guests, and a heart open to thanksgiving.”

May his words remind us that strength is found not in stone, but in the fragile stability of the sukkah. Strength is when, despite our pain and fear, we keep our doors and hearts open.

Chag sameach.

[Josh Mellits @jmellits]

This introspective comic from last week befits the high holiday season, as the #YomKippur fast beginning tonight invokes pondering our mortality. Wishing a meaningful day for those observing and may we be sealed in the books of comfort, laughter and love. #GmarChatimaTova

[Two Tweets of Torah @2tweettorah]

When we encounter and are ensnared by the potent forces of death and captivity, the remedy is to draw upon and demand the polar powers of life and liberty. May we have the courage to do so. #FourthofJuly #UntilTheLastHostage #LetThemGoNow #BringThemHomeNow #2TweetTorah (2/2)

[Two Tweets of Torah @2tweettorah]

The CHUKAT/ritual law for purification after contacting a corpse features an elaborate and enigmatic elixir of ashes from a red heifer, “cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson…and mayim hayim/fresh water [lit. waters of life] shall be added to them in a vessel.” (Num. 19:17) (1/2)

[The Florida Holocaust Museum @FLHolocaustMus]

Let today be the day the world truly listens.

Listening to Elie Wiesel – A Global Day of Reflection & Action

The Florida Holocaust Museum invites you to do more than remember—we invite you to listen, reflect, and act.

Wiesel’s voice still speaks powerfully through his books, lectures, and legacy. As antisemitism and Holocaust distortion rise, his moral clarity is more urgent than ever.

This day launches a new tradition—and you're part of it.

How to Participate:

- Read Wiesel’s books like Night and Open Heart.
- Watch his powerful lectures from 92Y and The USHMM, and more.
- Explore Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
- Reflect—and share your thoughts using #ListeningDay
- Find links to the above and more at https://t.co/llRONq6lWf

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

In the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes of the hobbits: "The Shire had no need of watchtowers or walls, and its peace had been maintained more by the vigilance of its friends than by any efforts of its own. Yet the Hobbits continued to live, as they had lived for centuries, in a state of blissful ignorance, unaware that they were being watched and protected."

There is evil in the world. Some of it is in ourselves, and we are commanded to fight it within us. But some of it is outside us and must be fought where we find it.

Too many in the West have forgotten this last part, not because the world has changed, but because they have lived under someone else's protection for so long that they have forgotten that they are protected. The protector, the mightiest human power ever seen, the United States of America, built this postwar world and secured it, granting its inhabitants more safety and prosperity than has ever been known.

Yet still, evil persists, brought into the world as always by human beings bent by visions of redemption or revenge. Evil broods and plots, and then eventually strikes. And when that evil seeks a nuke, that last part can't be allowed to happen.

Over-reliance on others, even on friends as mighty and fundamentally decent as America, is neither safe nor honorable. We Jews, at least, don't have the luxury of forgetting that the world isn't safe, it's merely, in some of its parts and under the right circumstances, under someone else's protection.

And so imperfect Israel must take this step. The Iranian regime is an evil blight upon the world that has launched hundreds of missiles at our cities and talked for decades about our destruction. It is an evil pursuing us, and we must meet its challenge, even if millions of anxious hobbits beyond the reach of that regime's missiles tweet angrily that all's still well and all war is unnecessary.

We do not come before you for judgment. We care only about the judgment of our children in the future when they assess how we have done by them. And we will do our best to be judged well by them.

So courage, Israel. And come home safe, brave pilots and warriors.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל: אַתֶּם קְרֵבִים הַיּוֹם לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל-אֹיְבֵיכֶם, אַל-יֵרַךְ לְבַבְכֶם, אַל-תִּירְאוּ וְאַל-תַּחְפְּזוּ, וְאַל-תַּעַרְצוּ מִפְּנֵיהֶם. כִּי ה׳ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם, עִם-אֹיְבֵיכֶם: לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם.

“Hear, O Israel: Today you approach battle against your foes. Let not your heart be faint; do not be afraid, do not panic, and do not cower before them. For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies—to deliver you.”

And from the Yemeni prayerbook:

הַשֵּׁב בָּנֵינוּ מִגְּבוּל אוֹיֵב. תֵּן תִּקְוָה לַשָּׁבוּיִים וְשִׁבָּה נְכֹחָה לַנִּלְחָמִים. תְּהִי תְּפִלָּתֵנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ לְרַחֲמִים וּלְרָצוֹן

"Return our sons from the enemy’s border.
Grant hope to the captives and bring the warriors home in safety.
May our prayer stand before You for mercy and acceptance."

And now, dear world, I'm going back to sleep.

[Avi Mayer אבי מאיר @AviMayer]

Israel’s operation against Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities has been named “Am KeLavi,” A Nation Like a Young Lion, after Numbers 23:24: “A nation rises up like a young lion, they rouse themselves like a lion.”

[Bring Them Home Now @bringhomenow]

600 days too long!
Bring them ALL home. Now!

[Boston University @BU_Tweets]

At BU’s 152nd Commencement Ceremony, Emily Deschanel (CFA’98, Hon.’25) shared these thoughtful pieces of advice with #BU2025:

[Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby]

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl opens post-game press conference with a message:

“Bring the hostages home.”

[Two Tweets of Torah @2tweettorah]

When facing a grave crisis and don’t know if help is coming, we can be impatient, panic, and retreat to our comfort zones; or be deliberate, have courage, and boldly speak out on behalf of our people. #UntilTheLastHostage #LetThemGoNow #BringThemHomeNow #2TweetTorah (2/2)

[Two Tweets of Torah @2tweettorah]

KI TISA: The Israelites tell Aharon, “lo yadanu/we do not know what has happened” to Moshe and made an idol (Ex.32:1). Mordechai tells Esther (read today on #Purim) “mi yodea/who knows, perhaps you have have attained royal position” to save lives, which she does. (Est.4:14) (1/2)

[Bring Them Home Now @bringhomenow]

Testimonies from released hostages prove that time has run out for those still held captive in Gaza—500 days is far too many.

We must bring them all back. Until the last hostage!

#BringThemHomeNow
#UntilTheLastHostage

[Josh Mellits @jmellits]

While each hostage is a precious soul, I felt a special connection to Sagui Dekel Chen, an American my age with young children and whose grandmother belongs to my synagogue. Welcome home and may the 73 who remain join you soon. #UntilTheLastHostage #LetThemGoNow #BringThemHomeNow

[Josh Mellits @jmellits]

L’dor vador/From generation to generation, as God declared in this week’s Torah reading, “You have seen…how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.” #superbowl #flyeaglesfly #GoBirds

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

What is the point of saying "never again" for 80 years, if the world stays silent when Jews are starved, tortured, and slaughtered by the same ideology?

[Aviva Klompas @AvivaKlompas]

Or Levy’s brother showed Or videos of his three-year-old son Almog and then they videocalled the little boy.

Almog told him: “Dad, it took you a long time to come back.”

[Josh Mellits @jmellits]

@glove @Lin_Manuel @StephenAtHome @colbertlateshow Love my two favorite musical artists coming together! Let’s see a collab happen and I will flip out. And @chrislhayes as the mix tape master, share the full playlist!

[Josh Mellits @jmellits]

I realized today that my daughter is now the same age as Kfir Bibas when he became the youngest hostage taken by Hamas along with his family, and my heart breaks all over again thinking of their fate 486 days later. #UntilTheLastHostage #BringThemHomeNow #LetThemGoNow

[Bring Them Home Now @bringhomenow]

485 days ago, the whole Bibas family was abducted from their home.

Yarden, the father, was the first one to be abducted. He came out of the house with the belief that this way his family will not be harmed. A belief that turned out to be completely wrong.
Hamas terrorists did not spare children and women.

Yesterday Yarden came home, but the house is empty.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir are still in Gaza.

We will keep calling for the completion of the agreement until the whole Bibas family is back home. Until the last hostage.

#UntilTheLastHostage
#BringThemHomeNow