This week I’ve felt an immense sadness, pain and anger that I haven’t felt since discovering the murder of Yair Yaakov z”l in February and of course on October 7th. The gut-punch Saturday night, the lack of sleep and seeing Hersh’s funeral early Monday morning. I give this sermon as one who felt the grieving and mourning all too closely, now leaving shiva for shloshim and ready to take the next steps.
We learned a glimpse of each of the hostages during Tuesday night’s vigil. Today I want to focus on something different-resistance. Each of these hostages resisted in their own way in his/her own way. Carmel Gat taught spiritual resistance through meditation exercises and yoga in the tunnels. She helped the others remember to stay calm during a torturous captivity, demonstrating that the one thing that cannot be taken away from you is your sense of self. Alex and Ori physically saved the lives of those they did not know before they were captured, showing their actions of selflessness. Almog tended to his girlfriend, showing the power of love. Eden kept others going through her vibrant spirit.
And then there was Hersh: Hersh Goldberg-Polin- a household name and the face of the hostages. We saw Hersh’s parents speak at major events, including both the Republican and Democratic conventions, travelling the world in order to save him. These past 11 months it felt as though his release along with the 5 with whom he was imprisoned was just around the corner. Painstakingly, it was not meant to be. At Hersh’s funeral, his mother Rachel said “you six lived together, you six died together, and now you will be remembered forever together.” His father Jon reminded us that the name Polin stands for פועלי ישועות, workers of salvation-or as I prefer to see them “miracle workers.” The hostages have become a global symbol for bringing improvement to our world. In remembering Hersh, Jon used the phrase adopted by his friends יהי זכרונו מהפכה -may his memory be a revolution. It is to that revolution that we are called now.
We need to be those miracle workers now. We CANNOT, We MUST NOT lose sight of the 101 remaining hostages in captivity. All steps must be taken towards their rescue. The ultimate value of Judaism is פקוח נפש, the saving of a life. These hostages may be beyond our reach halfway around the world but they are deeply embedded within our hearts. It is my hope and a prayer that a deal can be made to BOTH release the hostages AND keep Israel in control Gaza, badly needed so that Hamas cannot cause an October 7th-like attack again.
Here are the actions you can take to remember these 6 and to pray for the remaining 101 in captivity:
- If you are in Los Angeles between now and October 8 and are at least 16 years old, please go to the Nova Exhibition in Culver City, at which 5 of these 6 were taken. My best friend went when it was in New York, and she told me how powerful it is. If you cannot attend like me, commit yourself to learning about Nova-what it is about and why young people came together year after year.
- Dedicate yourself to learning at least one story from the captured and missing who were murdered since October 7th. Learn about their lives, their visions, their hopes and their dreams. Keep their memories alive through telling their stories.
- Continue to pray not only with words but also with your feet, for those hostages still in captivity, including Keith Siegel and Omer Wenkert, for whom we have chairs. As Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, founder of Zionist Rabbis, persuasively argued,[1] it’s time to change the narrative from “Bring them Home” to “Let Them Go.” I can only imagine what it felt like to say these words in the 1980s campaign to save Soviet Jewry. They might have meant something different then but their power will reverberate today. We say “Let Them Go” to demand that Egypt, Qatar, the United States and the United Nations exert pressure on the pharaoh of our day: The Islamic Republic of Iran, demanding that it pressure its proxy Hamas into releasing the hostages. In so doing, I’d like us to say the words that have impacted us for thousands of years. Please join me…LET THEM GO!!!
[1] StandWithUs Rabbis’ United WhatsApp Group
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