Rep. Noah Arbit Delivers Invocation on Anniversary of October 7th Attacks on Israel

Arbit prays for remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, Middle East peace

LANSING, Mich. — Today, State Representative Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield) delivered the invocation to open the October 7th, 2025 session of the House of Representatives. You can watch Rep. Arbit’s invocation here, and find a transcript of his remarks below:

Our Michigan coat of arms bears the Latin word Tuebor, or “I will defend.” Every day that I step into this chamber I think about what exactly it is I am defending.

Freedom. At an elemental level, freedom is what the human soul yearns for most. Though we  may define it differently, the defense of freedom, in one way or another, is what has brought each of us to the Michigan House of Representatives, on behalf of our communities.

As we open today’s session on October 7th, 2025, I ask that we turn our hearts and minds East to a particular fight for freedom — of the 48 remaining Israeli hostages who were abducted at gunpoint from their homes on October 7th, 2023, two years ago today, and taken as captives to Gaza by Hamas terrorists, simply for the crime of being Jewish and of being Israeli.

May their call for freedom be heard in this House, as I recite the Acheinu, a Jewish prayer for the release of captives, dating back to the 11th Century:

אַחֵינוּ כָּל בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל

הַנְּתוּנִים בַּצָּרָה וּבַשִּׁבְיָה

הָעוֹמְדִים בֵּין בַּיָּם וּבֵין בַּיַּבָּשָׁה

הַמָּקוֹם יְרַחֵם עֲלֵיהֶם

וְיוֹצִיאֵם מִצָּרָה לִרְוָחָה

וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹרָה

וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה

.הָשָׁתָא בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב

Our brothers, the whole house of Israel, who are in distress, or in captivity — who stand either in the sea or on dry land — may the Omnipresent have mercy on them and take them out from narrowness to expanse, and from darkness to light, and from oppression to redemption, now, swiftly, and soon.

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם מתיר אסורים.

Blessed are You Adonai our God, King of the universe, who frees the captive.

May God and our leaders Bring Them Home Now, and may Eretz Yisrael henceforth know only peace, not war.

Amen.

###