Free at last!

Israel is waiting. The Jews of the world are waiting. Our friends and supporters are waiting. President Trump is waiting. The Red Cross ambulances are waiting, Israeli rescue helicopters are waiting, the hospitals awaiting. But most of all, their families are torn with anxiety and anticipation. After two years almost to the very day on the Jewish calendar, they are coming home. Our hostages will be free at last.

We will always remember October 7, 2023, but we will also remember that on the Jewish calendar it was on the most joyous of days, Simchat Torah, that our world was ruptured. That our lives will never be the same again. There will always be a before and after the date.

I can hardly contain the mix of my emotions as the final countdown for the release of the hostages has begun. While tomorrow may be Simchat Torah on the Jewish calendar, today is known as Hoshana Rabbah, loosely translated as great salvation. In both Hebrew and the equivalent Greek, hosanna means “help us” or “save us”. The people of Israel of yesterday and today would wave leafy branches calling for God to deliver them. In Temple times they wanted salvation from Roman oppression, from physical ailments, from the unbalanced legal system. And today we pray for the end of the barbaric savagery of Hamas and its followers. We pray for moral coherency from the anti-Israel and antisemitic mobs crowding the streets and capitals of the world.

Is it merely a coincidence and happenstance that today of all days our hostages are being released?

As I write on my screen, the note pops up that the first of the seven hostages has just been released to the Red Cross. Together with all compassionate people across the world we rejoice. The waiting is ending. It’s a new beginning filled with all the toughness and apprehension that beginnings bring.

In Jewish prayers today we recited Halel with the profoundly beautiful words of the psalmist, King David:

This is a day we will rejoice and celebrate on. This is a day we will put aside the buckets of our tears and fears and open up the barrels of our joy and jubilation! This will be one festival of extreme joy. This will be an unforgettable.Simchat Torah!

Chag Sameach!

Rabbi Ralph