The Broken Vav and the Shattering of Dr. Abu Safiya
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and at least 13 other Palestinian physicians from Gaza have been abducted and held in Israeli custody for more than 18 months, without charge.
Dr. Abu Safiya to his attorney:
This is the last time you’ll see me… They brought me here to kill me.
This Shabbat, we read of a shocking, extra-judicial double slaying, and the divine “Covenant of Peace” (בְּרִיתִי שָׁלוֹם) granted to the Tabernacle guard, Pinchas, who wielded the spear (Numbers 25:1-12).Yet, in the Torah scroll, the letter vav in “Shalom” is intentionally fractured (vav ketiah). Our Sages shattered the word to teach a profound moral truth: any peace or security achieved through extra-judicial violence is counterfeit; it is broken.
Today, that broken vav is felt in the fractured bones and tortured body of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.
Dr. Abu Safiya—a pediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza—was abducted by Israeli forces on December 26, 2024, while dressed in his medical scrubs, fulfilling his duty to heal. Since his abduction, he has not been accused of any crime; Israel has been holding him hostage for more than 18 months without charge.
A recent dispatch from Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) reveals the horror inside his detention facility:
His attorney could barely recognize him. Handcuffed and bruised across his head, face, and neck, he was gasping for air and too weak to sit upright. His parting words were: “They brought me here to kill me.”
In addition to Dr. Abu Safiya, Israel abducted at least 13 other Palestinian physicians from Gaza and has held them in Israeli custody for more than 18 months without charge.
According to PHRI, Israel’s torture practices against Palestinians in its prisons have already caused at least 104 deaths since October 2023.
This is the slow, deliberate torturing and killing of captives—which no decent society should tolerate.
A Call to Conscience
If our Sages had the audacity to structurally fracture the holy Torah to protest extra-judicial violence, why does our leadership remain paralyzed by silence? Where is the outrage as health professionals are killed and tortured in dungeons, hospitals are reduced to graveyards, and a captive population is subjected to systematic destruction?
What You Can Do
1. Consider signing and forwarding the petition “Call to Save the Life of Dr. Abu Safiya” (organized by Academia for Equality). I have added my name and I hope you will too.
2. If you’re a healthcare professional, demand your organization issue an immediate call to release Dr. Abu Safiya. Get updates at: