Before Shabbat on Friday, my wife sent me up the street to our local bakery to pick up challah. Outside, a man was calling out, “156!” I asked him what 156 meant. For 156 weeks in a row, he told me, he has delivered Challahs and other Shabbat food to Israeli soldiers every Friday afternoon. I gave him a donation for his project, and then I stopped for a moment.

156 weeks. Three years since Oct. 7, 2023.