This Week’s Joy!
This year’s Simhat Torah offers us unparalleled joy. After two years in captivity, twenty hostages returned home to Israel. And while the bodies of twenty hostages killed by Hamas remain in Gaza and some might never be returned, the tenuous cease fire appears to be holding.
On Monday, as we watched the family members welcome their loved ones home, the words of the Psalmist came to life. “When the Lord restores the captives of Zion we were like dreamers. Our mouths shall be filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126)
We can sing again. We can laugh once more.
We can breathe. We can dream!
Since October 7th and the Simhat Torah from two years ago, I doubted these hostages would return home. On Monday I watched Dani Miran, the father of Omri, embrace his son. I took in the pictures when Omri hugged his wife and was reunited with his young daughters. I recall his wife Lishay’s last words to her husband as terrorists dragged him from the safe room, “I love you. I will protect our girls. We’re waiting for you. Don’t be a hero.”
I have been playing our meeting with Dani over and over again in my mind. In December of 2023 I traveled with a group of rabbis to Israel. Sitting in Hostage Square we met with Dani, Omri’s father. He told us in harrowing detail how his son was abducted on October 7th and the knife he felt in his heart when he first heard this news.
When he finished the story, we were crying and so Dani said, “You all look so sad. You should not be sad. We are a strong people. You are here so that we can give each other hugs. Never forget, we are one people.” And with that we jumped out of our seats, placed our arms around each other forming a circle and sang Rebbe Nachman’s words, “The whole world is a narrow bridge. The essence is not to be afraid.”
But to be honest I have been afraid for Omri and the other hostages’ fates for two years. I have drawn faith and strength from the hostage families who refused to give up hope.
And today, I feel like dreamers.
The rejoicing of Simhat Torah can haltingly return.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered in captivity along with five others only days before Israeli soldiers reached him taught fellow hostages the words of Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor. Frankl said, “He who has a why can bear any how.” Hersh counseled others not to give up and to hold fast to hope.
It is our dreams that make life possible. It is purpose that enable us to endure life’s cruelties.
Today, our dreams have become possible once again. I dare to hope.
I dream. Perhaps our beloved Israel will know peace. And perhaps Palestinians will never again know war.