No one left behind: What this day means

For the first time since 2014, there are no longer Israeli hostages in the territory of the Gaza Strip.” (Israel News Highlights, Special Update, 4.12pm, 26/1/26)

I was reviewing some old journal entries recently, and came across one that I wrote in October 2024, one year into the Swords of Iron War, right after Yahya Sinwar was assassinated, when there were still 101 hostages left in Gaza:

There is still so much pain around me. I can feel it in the air. So many families in pain, lonely, missing family members, grieving, displaced. And we all feel the pain of the hostages and their families acutely. It has been a year, and the pain has not lessened.

I know that logically only a miracle will bring all of them home, and logically it’s unlikely that all of their families will ever get the closure they deserve. And yet, I hope and I pray for a miracle.

We have seen miracles this year, if we choose to actually see them. Despite all the pain and grief, it is miraculous that there isn’t more of it. After the terrible betrayal of October 7, G-d seems to have brought back His clouds of protection. This is a case of no news is good news – but not just ‘good’ news, news in the scope of open miracles.

Let us not let the extraordinary, miraculous nature of this moment pass us by.

וְאָמַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא הִנֵּה אֱלֹקינוּ זֶה קִוִּינוּ לוֹ וְיוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ זֶה ה’ קִוִּינוּ לוֹ נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בִּישׁוּעָתוֹ׃ (ישעיהו כה:ט)

“On that day they shall say: ‘This is our G-d; we trusted in the One who delivered us. This is  G-d, in whom we trusted; let us rejoice and exult in G-d’s deliverance!” (Isaiah 25:9)

Several weeks ago, in the weekly Torah parsha, we read the story of Yosef and his brothers. Many commentators observe in particular Yehuda’s journey of repentance. Over the course of a few parshiyot, Yehuda transforms from a man who suggests selling his brother to a pack of travelling merchants, into a man who will put his own life in jeopardy to save his brother. It is considered an archetypal moment of ultimate repentance.

We too can now confidently say that we are a nation that does not leave anyone behind. From a nation that uprooted communities from our own land only 20 years ago, we now all feel as one, and many will (and have) sacrificed everything to keep others safe. Even if we disagree on the methods we should employ to achieve our aims, we share the highest values regarding the sanctity of human life and dignity. And even when we disagree, we feel each other’s pain, as well as the joy or relief of those families who are finally given some measure of closure.

And even when the odds are against us, even when the circumstances seem absolutely hopeless, we cry and pray and work together, and sometimes — despite all logic — even succeed, with G-d’s help, in achieving the impossible.

I have so much hope and faith that despite our problems, despite the factionalism that we so easily return to when the crisis ends, this can be a crucial turning point, where we demonstrate to G-d and to ourselves that we are truly His nation and fit to represent His values.

That particular journal entry continued thus, and its message is as true now as it was when I wrote it:

And yet, the pain continues and goes on and on. It is hard to face. It hurts. I want this wretched war to be over and my land and my people to be able to rebuild again, united. I hope we have learned our lesson. I’m not sure everyone has. I hope we are not doomed to repeat history again and again until we learn.

I kind of hoped that the coming of the Geula [redemption] will be like it felt yesterday. Well, I don’t hope that, but I can kind of imagine it. I think it will feel anticlimactic. I think we will smile but we will cry too, the weight of all the grief and pain we have had to carry finally sliding off our aching backs. There is a pain in that too – in recognising just how much we have had to endure, and in that way, only truly appreciating it once the weight is lifted. I don’t know what that will feel like, but I truly hope and pray to experience it. It is very special to see my children and their faith, the faith that many adults have lost, even if they ‘say’ they believe and hope for redemption. The truth is, most are quite comfortable where they are in life.

Perhaps that is the gift of feeling the pain. It leaves space for the longing and the hope, and the true joy should the pain be lifted. In contentment, there is little else to hope for and truly await.

We are still carrying so much pain. We have a lot to cry about. And we can feel angry about having to bring home our brothers and sisters in caskets rather than on their own two feet, furious that we had to bring them home at all, enraged that they were even kidnapped in the first place, and maddened by the suffering the survivors and their families endured, and continue to endure.

And yet, let us take this moment to pause, and give thanks for what is, and have faith that there are many, many more open miracles yet to be witnessed, if we are brave enough to open our eyes.

בִּלַּע הַמָּוֶת לָנֶצַח וּמָחָה ה’ דִּמְעָה מֵעַל כׇּל־פָּנִים וְחֶרְפַּת עַמּוֹ יָסִיר מֵעַל כׇּל־הָאָרֶץ כִּי ה’ דִּבֵּר׃ (ישעיהו כה:ח)

“Death will be destroyed forever.
G-d will wipe the tears away from all faces
and will remove the reproach of His people
from all the earth —
for it is G-d who has spoken.”
(Isaiah 25:8)

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Appropriately, there seems to be a lot of Geula (redemption)-energy in the air at the moment.

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Opening night took place on 25 January 2026.

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