Our stories are intertwined

As we approach 7 October 2024, I think about the hostages.

Every morning as I put on my tefillin, I can’t help but think of you. I’ve become accustomed to counting the days and thinking about how long it has been since you were stolen. We are almost at day 365. It’s unimaginable. It’s impossible to comprehend the depths of your anguish and the unimaginable suffering you are experiencing.

Nearly a year has passed, and we still count the days since you were stolen. It’s almost a year since you have felt the sun on your skin, seen your family, your friends. How long since you have felt loved? How much longer will it be before you come home?

We have never met, yet I feel like I know every one of you. We are somehow connected. Our stories have become intertwined. I have watched your families share details about your lives, who you are, what you do, and how you were taken. I have got to know you so well. I have seen your families fighting tirelessly, begging and pleading for your freedom. Your faces on posters haunt me. When will there be an end to the suffering? How much longer will it be until you come home?

If I could tell you anything, it would be that despite the unimaginable suffering you are enduring, you have become a symbol of unity, a rallying cry for the broader Jewish community to come together. Each of you represents more than just the unimaginable suffering you are enduring. You represent resilience, hope, and the strength of our shared values, our love for being Jewish, and our beloved state of Israel.

In the past year, my worldview has shifted in ways I never expected. Up until 7 October, I believed that antisemitism was a remnant of the past and that the world had evolved beyond the Holocaust. I never believed that “never again” would be now. In my naivety, I thought that the global antisemitism that is so tangible today was something abstract, a lesson from history books. Something that we would not see playing out in front of us. How wrong I was. News, radio stations, people with one-sided opinions – the world is predominately antisemitic and anti-Zionistic – sometimes overtly, sometimes subtly, but consistently corrosive and divisive.

Within my realisation is a lesson: it’s not enough to acknowledge antisemitism, we need to confront it. We need to stand proudly in our Jewish identity. We have a duty to speak out and to educate others. I’ve come to understand that our strength as Jews lies in our unity, and that no matter how much darkness tries to surround us, we will continue to stand together, defiant and unbroken.

So, to those precious souls that were stolen, I pray that peace will embrace your families again, and that the day will come when we can stop counting the days since you were taken.

Don’t lose hope. Am Yisrael Chai. Bring them home!