May Hashem Bring Our Hostages Home Now!

Lately, I’ve been seeing a number of people posting about the phrase “Bring Them Home” regarding our hostages and why they don’t like it. They feel that it takes the onus off of Hamas and puts too much onus on the Israeli government and on the IDF. Instead, they recommend using “Let our hostages go” or something similar. 

I don’t entirely agree. Here’s why.  

This past Shabbat, Shabbat Parshat Va’Etchanan, we read the Aseret HaDibrot- the Ten Commandments. The first one says “I am Hashem, your G-d, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (from the Artscroll Stone Chumash). Why do we say this? Wasn’t it Pharaoh who let us go from Mitzrayim? And wasn’t Moshe Rabbeinu the one who led us out? No. It was Hashem who hardened Pharaoh’s heart after the plague of hail and it was Hashem who changed Pharaoh’s mind after the plague of the firstborn and it was Hashem who gave Moshe the instructions and directions. 

Did Pharaoh have any intention of letting Bnei Yisrael go at any time? I doubt it. Pharaoh had the choice to let us go at any time and until the plague of hail, he chose not to. By that time, Hashem punished him by taking away his choice and hardening his heart for him. But does this make Pharaoh any less guilty? Of course not. First Hashem punished him by taking away his choice and then He punished him and the rest of the Mitzrim by letting them die out as a civilization. They’re no less guilty of what they did to us and they’re no less gone from the world. Just like what happened to all others who tried to destroy us. The Babylonians, Persians, Syrian-Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Inquisitors, Cossacks, Nazis, Soviets… all left to the history books.  

Will Hamas return our remaining hostages of their own free will? I doubt it. It makes sense to not release them. They know that Eretz Yisrael is winning the war in Gaza and that it’s only a matter of time before they’re destroyed. Right now, the hostages are their only leverage to buy them any time and they’re not giving that up. They refuse to see us Jews as anything other than pawns in their twisted game and they won’t show compassion. They’re 1000% guilty of crimes against humanity and they will need to answer for that. And too many people from the rest of the world see our hostages the same way- as pawns, not as human beings- and they’re guilty of enabling the crimes against humanity.   

When we say “Bring Them Home,” we’re not directing it exclusively at the Israeli government or at Tzahal. We’re directing it to Hashem. The One who led us out of Mitzrayim and who saved us from all our other enemies. We remember that every year in the Haggadah- “VeHaKadosh Baruch Hu Matzilenu MiYadam.” Hashem is the only one who can bring our hostages home. Whether it’s by changing Hamas’ mind, by giving us the kind of leverage that would make Hamas change their mind, by giving Tzahal good information and good strategies to allow for rescue, by allowing some or all of them to escape and find help, or even just by plucking them out of the way, Hashem is the only One who can bring them home. 

Of course we need to do our hishtadlut. Our chayalim need to do everything they can to find our hostages and get them out. Civilians need to help with the war effort. In Chutz LaAretz, we need to be in touch with our elected officials and encourage them to call out “Let the Israeli hostages go” and “Bring them home now!” And we need to daven and do mitzvot and keep our hostages in mind at all times. And then there’s the hard part- we have to accept that Hashem is in charge of the outcome too and it may not be what we want. 

We need not rule out the cry of “Let Our People Go” or similar. Moshe Rabbeinu used that with Pharaoh and maybe it will influence Hashem to change Hamas’ mind. But we can also ask Hashem to please BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!