By:Romi Morales
Today we woke up to the terrible news that six bodies of Israeli hostages were found in a tunnel 20 metres underground in Gaza. Six young people who, until a few hours ago, were alive, may have returned home and will no longer do so.
Since last night we knew that our soldiers had found six bodies. We didn’t know names yet. Impossible not to think: Which families will be destroyed tomorrow morning? Who will receive the terrible news that their loved ones will not return alive? Fate? Luck? Russian roulette.
Gradually, the names of the hostages killed by the Hamas terrorist organisation were published.
Hersh was the first we heard of. He still hears his mother’s scream at the Gaza border, only a few days ago, when the families of the hostages, desperate with longing, tried to rescue their loved ones themselves. So as not to endanger the security forces, they agreed, this time, simply to use loudspeakers to tell their relatives in captivity not to lose hope, that we are doing everything we can to rescue them, that we love them, that we miss them, that we need them back home. Hersh’s mother gave him the blessing of the Cohanim. Did Hersh listen to his mother? Was he still alive?
Then the names of Almog, Alex, Ori, Eden and Carmel were published. I did not know any of them personally. I got to know them over time through their loved ones. The news of their deaths was devastating, mainly because it is known that their deaths could have been prevented.
Anger, sadness, frustration, anguish and fear, a lot of fear, are mixed together and generate a sensation little known until now. Reality has become simply unbearable and yet we endure it. The heart hurts and yet it still beats. We can’t get any air and yet we continue to breathe.
The tension between life and death is constant. But our mandate, as Jews, was always, is and will remain: to choose life. And if so… Why is it so difficult to make the right choice? Why can’t we simply assume that on 7 October Israel failed in its obligation to provide security, and every day since then we continue to fail until our loved ones return home?
Be it the kidnapped, be it our soldiers, be it the displaced… Everyone would like to go home. We all want everyone to go home. That is first and foremost. This is the urgent, necessary and right thing to do. Nothing else matters now. All the rest can wait (as it waited for many years until 7 October).
I hear people around me: ‘we can’t do anything’, ‘nothing we do is going to change this reality’, ‘we don’t have the resources-strength-power to really influence the decision-makers’. I ask myself: Are we locked in, imprisoned by this reality too?
I answer myself: No, we are not! We have the privilege of being free and therefore we can be masters of our own destiny and yes: I believe that we can help to influence the destiny of others. We should at least try.
We owe it to them, we owe it to ourselves and to all those who come after us. To them in the first place, because it is our ethical and moral obligation as a country. We owe it to ourselves to prove that we can create a better society. To the next generations we owe the certainty of knowing that this society will not give up on any of them if they are at risk. The next generations need to know that, as a society, we are willing to do everything in our power to ensure that they all come home alive.
I am sure there is one thing that the whole of Israeli society can agree on today, even after all the disruption of the last few years: We do not want any more killing. We want no more wars. We are a people who love peace and pursue peace. We are a people who sanctify life. We are a people who grew up under the motto that ‘all Israel is responsible for each other’. Brothers we are! Therefore, it is My brothers who are dying in war or are being murdered by ruthless terrorists. The pain is endless and we need it to end once and for all.
Our values, our history, our culture, our religion, our national foundations for which we created this state: the national home of the Jewish people, a refuge and a place where we could safely lead a Jewish life as a rule. None of this allows our conscience to be at ease, while so many people are losing their lives, kidnapped and far from home.
I am in love with the Jewish people. I am in love with our beautiful country, Israel. I know it will cost us, but we will succeed in building a happier future. I am hopeful that better days will come. Days of reunion, days of healing, days of rebuilding, days full of life. But for that, we first need to understand that the most important value is not that of ‘absolute victory’, but that of time, of life, the time of life. It is true that time is over for many, but it is also true that we can still prevent it from ending for many others.
In our sources it says: ‘Whoever saves one life is as if he saved the whole world’. Today the whole world of many families is also in our hands, in our decisions.
Alevai may we and our leaders have the privilege, the wisdom, the courage and the strength to make the right decisions in such difficult times as we are going through.
Alevai let’s get everyone home safe and sound, now!
