Friday, January 31, 2025 – ג׳ שְׁבָט תשפ”ה    No picture is more moving than children reuniting with their parents and families after 481 days of nightmarish captivity. Yesterday (Thursday), today, and tomorrow, we will once again bear witness to frail yet persistent hostages on their way to liberation, making their way through a proverbial “Via Dolorosa” of Hamas gunmen in black masks and green Hamas ribbons escorting them through a mob of jeers, taunts, and hatred. This terrifying display may have been orchestrated to demonstrate to their people that Hamas is still in charge and to spin the release of hostages into a display of victory and triumph. For us, however, the visuals are almost unbearable to watch. Then, we are treated to overwhelming cathartic relief when Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud, and Gadi Moses embrace their loved ones. Many offered the words of the “שהחיינו – Shehecheyanu” blessing, expressing gratitude for “keeping us alive, sustaining us, and bringing us to this moment.” Some also offered the blessing בָּרוּךְ מְחַיֶה הַמֵּתִים” – who revives the dead” reflecting the feeling that these hostages have been brought back to life from near death. We also saw the release of 5 Thai hostages who were captured in the fields where they were working on October 7th. They are Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak. Their pictures and stories were significantly less prominent, and their family members (for obvious reasons) had not camped out at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv or the halls of the Knesset. Still, we all must be grateful that they, too, have been liberated and will hopefully return to their families soon. Yesterday’s release, the third “pulse” (as it is referred to in Hebrew – פעימה ), gave us an exceptional opportunity to see footage released by the Islamic Jihad of 30-year-old Arbel Yehud embracing 80-year-old Gadi Moses in the moments celebrating their long-awaited liberation. It was a moment to step back and think about all they have endured and their inseparable bond of having shared this harrowing experience and survived. We can’t begin to understand what they have gone through, nor can we know the short-term and long-term effects on their psyche and physiology. The news commentators, without fail, fill lots of airtime talking about how “good they look.” They do “look” relatively okay in that they are smiling, talking, walking on their own, and appearing to be functional. Keep in mind, however, according to leading trauma experts and psychologists, that their external appearance is meaningless. To learn more about this, join our webinar this Sunday (register here). What this moment requires of us now is to welcome back the hostages, to do everything we can to encourage that this deal continues and that after the 33 hostages are released (the alive and the dead), we work hard to bring ALL of the hostages home. I am always amazed at how serendipitous it is that our weekly Torah reading offers a parallel example with our current reality. When Moses goes before Pharaoh to plead for the release of his people from the house of bondage, this week’s portion describes his similar challenge: “Pharaoh’s courtiers asked him, ’How long shall this one be a snare to us? Let a delegation go to worship their God יהוה! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?’ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, ‘Go, worship your God יהוה! Who are the ones to go?’ Moses replied, ‘We will all go—regardless of social station —we will go with our sons and daughters, our flocks and herds; for we must observe יהוה’s festival.’” (Exodus 10: 7-9) Prime Minister Netanyahu is now playing a Moses-like role. He has the triple duty to push back against Hamas’ evil, negotiate with world leaders, and face opposition within his coalition. While there are those in the Haredi world who only recently began to support the deal for a ceasefire and hostage release, their calls (in the opinion of many) have come too little and too late. Journalist Shalom Yerushalayim wrote: “Their attitude toward the hostages’ families has generally been indifferent. The famous rabbinic dictum, ‘Whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved an entire world,’ did not inspire the ultra-Orthodox community to take to the streets of Bnei Brak or Mea Shearim.” … “In fact,” he continued, “the ultra-Orthodox statements of support for the hostage-ceasefire deal come at the explicit request of Netanyahu, who seeks to showcase broad support for the agreement, particularly ahead of his meeting next week in Washington with US President Donald Trump, who is pressing for the agreement to be implemented in full.” Some regard the Haredi support for the deal as a way to pull the pressure off the most heated internal debate around the draft exemption bill, which is currently up for discussion in the Knesset and ahead of the budget deadline at the end of March. The idea is that if the war is over, then fewer combat soldiers will be needed, so fewer lenses will be pointed at the young Haredi men who sit in Yeshiva while their non-Haredi counterparts risk their lives in battle. It is a cynical quid pro quo ploy of good old-fashioned politics in which the Haredim will be seen as lending their full support to Netanyahu to help him stay in President Trump’s good graces, all in exchange for the Prime Minister’s backing of the draft bill – which would perpetuate deferments to the Haredim – and thereby save his coalition from collapse. At a moment of collective trauma, emotion, and relief, one might think that this would be an appropriate moment to express the principle of collective responsibility beyond the sorry reality that (to paraphrase the famous Talmudic dictum) ‘only some of Israel is responsible for one another.’ It will be a great honor for the Israeli Prime Minister to be the first foreign dignitary to be invited and received at the White House by the altneu POTUS. If Netanyahu is wise (and I am confident he is) and if he has the best interest of the State of Israel at heart (which I am less confident) he will use this opportunity to do two things:
  1. To solidify the U.S.-Israel relationship and pave the way for a renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (the largest single pledge of military assistance in U.S. history – $38 Billion) in 2026.
  2. Bring back the message to his coalition partners that Trump has the best interest of Israel and the region at heart and that a ceasefire the release of all the hostages, and a potential Saudi deal – including an arrangement with the Palestinians is, in fact, what is best for us.
Just like those who came out of Egypt and those who began the rebuilding process after the Holocaust, which we commemorated this week, we are now collectively working to rebuild our lives and our communities after October 7, 2023, and the longest war in Israel’s history. The hostage release and ceasefire deal are essential steps in our ability to have closure, but they won’t happen until every last hostage is out of Gaza and home with their families. As Civil Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer famously declared, “Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free.” This is the moment to say, “Let All Our People Go.”