A Hanukkah letter to Minister Ron Dermer

To Mr. Ron Dermer, Minister of Strategic Affairs,

On the first night of Hanukkah, I stood outside your home in the cold, holding a megaphone, in a very public, uncomfortable way, and read a message to you. I’m not sure you heard, so I’m trying again.

You don’t know me, but I am your neighbor here in Baka. Like you, I grew up in the US and made aliyah as a young adult. Baka is a great place to live with a friendly, neighborly vibe. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to enjoy it lately. On October 7, 2023, on another joyful Jewish holiday, my 32-year-old son Dr. Hayim Yeshurun Katsman was murdered on his beloved kibbutz of Holit in the Gaza envelope. 

At the end of Simchat Torah, my family waited for news. Hayim’s body was identified on the kibbutz early in the morning of October 8 and buried that Thursday. We were lucky. Some families waited weeks or months to find out if their loved ones were alive. Still others, like the family of our neighbor Hersh Goldberg Polin (by “our,” I mean your neighbor too, Mr. Dermer), waited to hear that their loved ones held alive in Gaza would be returning home. But Hersh of blessed memory, along with five other hostages who still lived and were set to return, suffered 331 days of torture before being murdered in captivity. Needless to say, it was torture for the family too.

My son Hayim could have been among the hostages. At one point we thought he might have been taken. But that is not why I am writing – after all, any one of us could find ourselves in that unenviable position. Imagine trying not to think about the horrors inflicted on your loved ones, as described by our government (yours and mine, Mr. Dermer) in a recent report to the UN.

No, I am writing here tonight because the pain of our family, and the families of the over 2,000 Israelis killed since the beginning of this war, has been so great, that I simply cannot bear to see these other families suffer. Since October 7 we have experienced nothing but darkness. Every day we wake up not only to the tragedy of our own loss, but the devastating dystopia of 100 hostages who remain in the dark and dank tunnels. Every day we wake up in dread of hearing of more deaths, more pain, more darkness. Indeed, mere days after I spoke outside your home, the son of another of our neighbors, Yuval Shoham of blessed memory, was killed in an operational accident in Gaza. 

Over the nearly 15 months since our personal, national and Jewish tragedy, I have received hundreds of messages from Hayim’s neighbors in the south, academic colleagues including at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Academic College, army comrades, classmates, and fellow musicians. They continue to share how much he meant to them: his ability to listen to others with different views, his insights on Israeli society, his concern for his friends and neighbors, and indeed for all people. How much he is missed. Hayim was a whole world, and we feel his loss daily.

Just like my dear son Hayim, each and every hostage is a whole world, with loved ones waiting for them at home. For many hostages and their families, it is already too late. I was always taught that it was a supreme Jewish value to bury our dead immediately. It is unfathomable that Israel allows those bodies to remain there. 

And the living hostages? They must be spared further suffering. This Hanukkah, let us add another mitzvah, that of pidyon shevuim, redemption of captives.

Mr. Dermer, they say that you have power, that you have extraordinary influence over the decisions that our leaders are making about the hostages and the war. Let your legacy not be one of the abandonment and death of our citizens, including children, the elderly and young adults. 

This Hanukkah, Mr. Dermer, bring us light, bring us hope, bring us peace. Bring each and every one of our loved ones home. 

Your neighbor,

Hannah