Return of our first three: a world of hope and despair
It’s cold here, some weeks hard to escape the January blues, dark days and a European cold which is biting. Some days I love that cold chill, some days I think I was not built for this climate.
It is hard to escape the seismic shifts of the week. On Sunday three hostages were released from 471 days in Hamas captivity and the quiet of ceasefire fell on Israel and Gaza. I was utterly glued to Israeli television, weeping and smiling to see Doron Steinbrecher, Emily Damari and Romi Gonen returned to family, friends and community. Like many Jews worldwide, we are connected to the stories of these three women. When I visited Israel in December we visited displaced families of Kfar Aza in Kibbutz Ruchama; at the time, they were campaigning for the release of Emily and Doron, now released, alongside Gali and Ziv Berman and Keith Segal, who were taken from Kfar Aza on October 7. May they all return soon.
Romi Gonen is from Kfar Vradim in the North of Israel, a community, some 20km from the northern border with Lebanon, who for many months of 2024 lived in and out of bomb shelters, bombarded by Hezbollah rockets. This week they welcome home their Romi who was abducted from the Nova music festival. Romi’s family belong to our Masorti community, run by my colleague Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger in Kfar Vradim, who have tirelessly, week in and week out, kept the torch of resilience and hope alight.
These are the small connections in a larger web of intimacyhe stories of families and communities that have gone through unimaginable anguish and suffering in the last year.
What was noticeable from the television images was the presence en masse of women on the streets of Israel, holding out hope for the return of the first three of our hostages, sisters of Israel, for whom we have waited so long.
There is nothing good about war; Palestinian community return to utter devastation, and what remains unclear is what hope there will be for Gaza with a despotic power still in control of this strip of land. Will the Palestinian people ultimately be able to shed the yoke of extremism and choose a direction towards progress, building for the future.
All this before we even get to Trump’s inauguration, the image which is hard to escape, is that of a serving official from the administration, Elon Musk, making a Nazi salute on stage. Before all the apologetics or wishful thinking of what his intent may or not have been, Jews or any people of freedom with a vision of European history, will be chilled by this display. In one day, he has withdrawn the US from the climate accords, from the World Health Organisation and pardoned people who attacked the US Capitol. Scary times!
In our parsha we have chilling tones which connect with the news of the day -
וְגַם אֲנִי שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶת־נַאֲקַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר מִצְרַיִם מַעֲבִדִים אֹתָם וָאֶזְכֹּר אֶת־בְּרִיתִי׃ לָכֵן אֱמֹר לִבְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲנִי ה" וְהוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם מִתַּחַת סִבְלֹת מִצְרַיִם וְהִצַּלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מֵעֲבֹדָתָם וְגָאַלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בִּזְרוֹעַ נְטוּיָה וּבִשְׁפָטִים גְּדֹלִים׃ וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם לִי לְעָם וְהָיִיתִי לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הַמּוֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם מִתַּחַת סִבְלוֹת מִצְרָיִם׃
I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am Y-K-V-K, God. I will free you from the labours of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through great plagues. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I, Y-K-V-K, I am your God who freed you from the labours of the Egyptians. EXODUS, 6:5-7
However you read the authorship of Torah, it is hard to escape the way, in every generation, that this story tells and re-tells the story of our people. We read these words in synagogue this week, thinking of those still captive, praying for their release from captivity. We might well ask, did God hear their crying, heed their tears, acknowledge their suffering? I don’t think I will ever be able to answer that question but we certainly have heard their screams in this last 15 months and will continue to until all the hostages are returned. I have found this past year utterly haunting, and repair and healing is only possible once this story of captivity closes.
It is our Haftara that often offers qualification and tightening of the message of the Parsha, this week is no different, the prophecy of Ezekiel, asks what is all this for? The Parsha reads: ‘..וְהוֹצֵאתִי.. וְהִצַּלְתִּי.. וְגָאַלְתִּי.. וְלָקַחְתִּי’, words traditionally associated with four cups of wine on Passover, ‘I will free…deliver…redeem…and take you…’, Ezekial paints a broader picture of the hope of this eternal journey to the Promised Land.
כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי ה" בְּקַבְּצִי אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן־הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר נָפֹצוּ בָם וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בָם לְעֵינֵי הַגּוֹיִם וְיָשְׁבוּ עַל־אַדְמָתָם אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לְעַבְדִּי לְיַעֲקֹב׃ וְיָשְׁבוּ עָלֶיהָ לָבֶטַח וּבָנוּ בָתִּים וְנָטְעוּ כְרָמִים וְיָשְׁבוּ לָבֶטַח בַּעֲשׂוֹתִי שְׁפָטִים בְּכֹל הַשָּׁאטִים אֹתָם מִסְּבִיבוֹתָם וְיָדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי ה" אֱלֹקֵיהֶם׃
Thus said the Sovereign GOD: When I have gathered the House of Israel from the peoples among which they have been dispersed, and have shown Myself holy through them in the sight of the nations, they shall settle on their own soil, which I gave to My servant Jacob, and they shall dwell on it in security. They shall build houses and plant vineyards, and shall dwell on it in security, when I have meted out punishment to all those about them who despise them. And they shall know that I the God of Y-K-V-K, their God. EZEKIEL, 28:25-26
The question I have for the week is can we keep God in the story and at the same time take God out of the equation. How can we listen to the suffering, redeem our people and bring Israel to great peace, security and healing? Can we do it?
At the same time can we be a people who can permit the light to shine in through the cracks of that healing, and permit our story also to offer healing and hope to all people, to heed the call of all those broken by this terrible war and keep the call for humanity and dignity alive for everyone.
‘וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בָם’, that must surely be the greatest realisation of these words: ‘I have shown Myself holy through them’.
Shabbat shalom
