Counting Omer

Each sunrise for 422 days was filled with hope that Omer’s fate would be like Almog Meir Jan who was heroically rescued by brave IDF fighters, or Mia Schem who was exchanged in diplomatic negotiations. And at each sunset, the darkness and silence scared us to insomnia after having lived a nightmare. Each nightfall we were reminded that Omer was missing and there was no connection with any of his loved ones.

Monday, the IDF and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, along with a tribunal of medical experts declared from forensics and evidence they had obtained, that Omer died on October 7th, 2023, and his body was being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. The news came at sunrise. The time of day when our hope is regenerated. We let out a collective bellow upon learning the news. And, within that cry was a sliver of comfort. Omer was killed on October 7th. He did not have to live malnourished, beaten, denied sunlight or physically and psychologically tormented in tunnels. How sick that we were somewhat relieved that he was dead all along?!

Omer was from Long Island and shared much connective tissue with our community. He was a product of USY, Solomon Schechter Schools, Camp Sprout Lake and was an active member of a Conservative synagogue in Long Island, in addition to working at Camp Ramah in Nyack as a counselor. I met and hugged Omer’s mom on October 23, 2023, just 2 weeks after the fateful day of his abduction. She shared Omer’s story with a group of clergy in New York, something she would do thousands of times more to bring awareness to his plight and bring Omer home. We will still never stop to bring him home, only now it will be for his burial.

Just hours before this tragic news about Omer was released, a Hamas-made propaganda video of Edan Alexander, a similar aged dual-citizen from Tenafly, NJ who is serving in the IDF and was captured on October 7th was shared with the public. Edan looked gaunt, pale and teary-eyed. But Edan was alive. It was the first sign of life we had received from Edan since his abduction 421 days earlier. While hearts aching at his ordeal, it reminded us how close we are to getting Edan back into his parents embrace. To bringing him home and offering him the sunlight, nourishment and love he deserves.

This news of hope and despair, Edan and Omer, came as bookends of the waxing and waning of the new month of Kislev, which hosts the holiday of Hanukkah.

Most would say that the miracle of Hanukkah is oil that should have lasted for one night lasted for eight. If that is so, why would we celebrate the miracle of the first night of Hanukkah? After all, there was enough oil for one night. Should that first night not be a given? Why not make Hanukkah only seven days long? The miracle of the holiday was only seven days, not eight.

I contend that there are multiple miracles we celebrate on Hanukkah. For seven nights of Hanukkah, we celebrate the oil lasting past its time. But for the first night, after revealing the desecration Antiochus unleashed on the Temple, and following fierce battles, the loss of troops, exhaustion and despair, the fact that one Maccabee still looked for oil and had the gumption to kindle the flame in the destroyed Temple is demonstrative of the essence of the Jewish people.

We are a people of eternal hope. We will always light a candle and welcome each new sunrise with possibility and blessings. The Alexander family know that feeling.

Our kryptonite as a people is when strong winds make those flames flicker or extinguish. The Neutra family know that feeling.

We all know these feeling too well.

Our world forever became darker in learning of Omer Neutra’s death this week. As we soon enter this festival of lights, let us not only light a candle in Omer’s memory, let it shine promise for all of those who need it when the sun is covered by clouds or goes to sleep at night. Hope is much stronger than the winds that look to snuff them out. May Edan’s reunification with his family (along with all the hostages) be the extra Hanukkah miracle we desperately need in the darkness of this season. May the comfort of our Jewish community be the solace and reaffirmation of faith the Neutra family deserves during this traumatic torment.