The Blogs: Absent but More Felt, How the Hostages Taught Us True Love

For the past year and a half, the hostages have been constantly on our minds.

We’ve hung their posters, prayed for their safety at Synagogue and attended countless rallies calling for their release. In recent weeks, many of the hostages who’ve suffered for 500 days or more in Hamas captivity were returned to their homes and to their people, others such as the Bibas family were not so lucky. News of their deaths and the condition in which their bodies were returned caused pain and intense anguish for Jews around the world.

Even though we didn’t know them personally, the hostages have become dear to us. Names like Agam Berger, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, Noa Argamani, Omer Shemtov, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eli Sharabi, Alex Trufanov, and 240 others have become so familiar that they’ve become almost like members of our own family.

In this week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, we notice something similar. Tetzaveh is the only portion in the last four books of the Torah in which Moses’ name is not mentioned. This is striking, as Moses is the dominant figure in the stories of leaving Egypt and wandering in the desert, with his name appearing over 650 times. The Torah is written with divine perfection, so an omission of this nature has profound spiritual importance.

The Rebbe explains that Moses’s absence in this week’s portion draws attention to his very essence. When someone you love is absent, you begin to miss them. It is through their absence that their presence – once taken for granted – now becomes accentuated and all the more appreciated.

These precious hostages tragically became known to us because of their captivity in Gaza — because they were absent from the Jewish people. These individuals who we didn’t know and never thought about before have now become some of the most important people in our lives.

This dynamic taught me and many others the true meaning of Ahavat Yisrael – love for our fellow Jew. It didn’t matter whether the hostages were young, old, Ashkenazi or Sephardic. We prayed for them all just the same. Even though the hostages were absent, their presence was felt so palpably, teaching us how to truly open our hearts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_OCtw3Enag

The world we live in seems so self contained and self sustaining, but the truth is that this is not the reality. Our Jewish tradition teaches us that behind this mirage of seeming independence, there is a very active Creator, who never gave up creating our magnificent planet. Once the Baal Shem Tov was walking with his students and found a child weeping. The Baal Shem Tov tried to comfort the child and asked why he was crying. The boy replied, “ I’m playing hide go seek, with my friends, but they gave up looking for me. The Baal Shem Tov gave the child a candy and the boys pain was assauged.

The students asked their master, what possible lesson could they derive from such a simplistic story. To which the Bal Shem Tov responded- this is the mystical story of creation – G-d created the world, and He is waiting for us to find him, and we simply can’t give up looking for our Creator. Our mission in this world is to find and reveal G-d through mitzvahs, which includes acts of goodness and kindness and through studying Torah. We simply can’t stop, because our efforts make a profound difference. The hostages, who we all love need us to prevail. We must continue our mission of securing the release of our brothers and sisters hidden in the terror tunnels of Gaza.

We must also not be satisfied with our G-d being hidden and not being vividly seen. G-d, our exile is just too painful! We, your people have suffered far too much and we love you deeply! Please bring Moshiach now and end this long painful process of hide and seek, because like the little boy we are crying out for your help. We can and must do this because all of creation and the world needs us to prevail!

From my heart to yours,

Areyah