SO.....MANY....EMOTIONS

The twenty living hostages came home to Israel on Monday. Monday was also the holiday of Hoshana Raba, the last day of Sukkot. One of the reasons this holiday is special is that it is considered the main time that the "who will live/who will die" spiritual verdict of the High Holy Days is sealed. 

As Herb Keinon, commentator for the Jerusalem Post, wrote: "Rare are the days when history and holiness meet, when the Jewish calendar's rhythms and the country's pulse seem to beat as one. Monday was one of those days".  It was also the rare holiday when things like phones and driving are allowed. And, for me, one of the VERY rare times that I not only had my phone with me in synagogue, but had it face up and looking at every update Penina was sending to me. 

How many emotions can our hearts hold at once? 

Intense joy at the return of the hostages

Heavy grief at those, already murdered, whose bodies are still being held as bargaining chips

Deep sadness at the number of soldiers seriously wounded or killed over the past two years

Gnawing fear that the 2000 terrorists released from Israeli jails as part of this deal are already planning what new evil they can perpetrate

and, with every photo and video of families of hostages being reunited with their sons/brothers/husbands/fathers who they had such a high chance of never seeing alive again....intense joy. And the cycle starts all over again.

For more than a year, Avinatan Or was chained inside a cage shorter than he is and barely larger than his mattress. It is estimated he lost 30-40% of his body weight while in captivity

While October 7 was last week on the secular calendar, on the Hebrew calendar, the dates worked out pretty incredibly: Hoshanah Raba is exactly one day before Simchat Torah, the day this all started two years ago. Amazing that Hashem gave us this "day before", when we could all be glued to the media showing the hostages coming home and THEN give us the whole-heart joy that is Simchat Torah, when we finish reading the Torah for one year and start again with Bereishit: "In the beginning". And this moment certainly is a new beginning for those twenty families. May it also be a new beginning for this entire region.

The bodies of 21 people are still being held captive. Please Gd they will be returned soon for proper burial in Israel.