Dear Friend,

It's almost unbelievable to find myself writing this, but yesterday, we marked 500 days since our world was turned upside down on October 7, 2023. That dark Shabbat feels both like it was last week and like it was ten years ago. So much has changed since then. So much still needs to change.

Most glaringly, our government has failed to secure the release of all the hostages. Five hundred days ago, Hamas kidnapped 251 people to Gaza. Israeli civilians and soldiers, workers from Thailand, and other foreign nationals whose security was our responsibility. Seventy-three of them remain in Gaza today, at least 35 are already confirmed dead.

In the past 500 days, we have shouted our voices horse, marched in the thousands, and amplified the voices of so many more all over the world demanding that our government do everything possible to free them. We've waved signs with quotes from Maimonides that There Is No Greater Mitzvah Than The Redemption Of Captives, and the ruling from the Shulchan Aruch, the foundational medieval rabbinic code of law, that Every moment that one delays the redemption of a captive, it is as if they were to shed their blood.

Our government, so quick to bow to religious extremism when it comes to compromising equality, religious freedom, women's and LGBTQ rights, has flaunted its violation of these principles of our tradition, as if doing so demonstrates strength rather than a complete Jewish, moral, and civic failure.

After 500 days, freeing the hostages is more urgent than ever. Many are now dead who could have been saved had the Prime Minister and the Government not hardened their hearts, repeatedly citing some new reason not to accept a hostage release/ceasefire deal. As we have seen in the last weeks, those returning now have endured incredible hardships, including torture and starvation.

Every Shabbat, we've had glimpses of joy, seeing three more hostages reunite with their families. Last Shabbat, I was elated watching Sasha Trofanov meet his partner and his mother; Yair Horn meet his mother and brother, and American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen greeted by his wife Avital, who told him the name of their third daughter, born two months after he was abducted. She is now over a year old.

(Pictured above, hostages Reunite with their families)

But all family members of the released hostages commit to continue the fight until everyone is home. We understand from the descriptions of their captivity, heart wrenchingly conveyed to us by those who have recently returned, how critical it is. Time is of the essence.

I began the 500th day attending a Knesset committee hearing. As is always the case since October 7, families of the hostages are present and allowed to speak. This time, I was honored to hear my friend Lee Siegel, about whom I've written in recent weeks. Even though his brother Keith was released at the beginning of this month, he continues to work as hard as he can to press the government to act. Likewise, last Friday, Keith released a video statement advocating for those remaining in captivity.  So many families of hostages who have been freed and so many freed hostages themselves continue to inspire us with their determination to speak out. Whatever the matter at hand, freeing the hostages is the most urgent and important mission!

(Lee Siegel, seated next to me, speaks in the Knesset  yesterday).

In another committee hearing, Lishay Miran, whose husband Omri is still in captivity, broke our hearts when she said her daughter Ronnie, who is 3-and-a-half, keeps asking her why Dad hasn't come back. Every day, she asks her mother if she'll be able to bring him back home.

When I left the Knesset, I walked a hundred meters to the hunger strikers' tent, where dozens gathered to mark the 500th day. We heard the brave people who have been on a hunger strike for weeks and are not willing to stop until all hostages are back.

(Outside of the Knesset, with dozens of people saying 500 days are too many days!)

We joined the call of the hostage families and marked this 500th day with a national day of fasting, a special prayer written for this day by Rabbi Mira Regev (English version by Rabbi Levi Weiman Kalman) and called on all members of the Israel Reform Movement to join special events and rallies for which we printed signs with a quote from Isaiah: This is the fast I desire: unlock fetters of wickedness…let the oppressed go free (58:6). And we held a special prayer service before the main rally in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

We all know where we were and what we were doing 500 days ago. The question is, where we will be and what kind of a country we will have 500 days from now? Our struggle will continue until every single hostage is home, demanding that our government follow through with all the stages of the deal and declare an end to the war. And we will continue fighting on all fronts - in the courts, the Knesset, the media, and the streets - to ensure that the country the hostages are coming back to is a country where the leaders are accountable to the citizens and work to promote equal rights for us all.
 
Sincerely,

Orly Erez-Likhovski
 
P.S.  - We know that it is a challenging time for American democracy. Read my latest Times of Israel blog post on the similarity between the threats to democracy in Israel and the US.

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