Four hostages rescued. Many people have noted that they were not released; rather, they were rescued. And though the lives of terrorists and complicit Palestinians were lost in the dangerous operation, it’s a risk they bear when hostages, who are still alive, are, themselves, at risk of dying in the grip of their captors. Israel has always made it clear that they were aiming to accomplish three goals, namely, rescuing the hostages, dismantling Hamas from taking back power, and securing the border to prevent future attacks from Gaza.

News of this rescue operation came as we woke up on Shabbat morning. It wasn’t unlike the news that gripped us on Shabbat morning in the fall, when we thought we were waking up to celebrate Simchat Torah. It was hardly a simcha, but, with horror and dread in our hearts, we still led the congregation through the holiday. With similar resilience, we waited through and endured many months that produced few steady results from the IDF for peace between the Hamas terrorists and Israel. We’ve mostly endured rising Jew-hatred from across the country and on college campuses. Fueled by ignorance and social media rants, it prompted Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt to say, “Never have so many known so little about so much.” It’s a keen observation and also a stern warning. It’s a sore spot for our world that so much is unknown and unlearned about the history of the Middle East.

When we woke up to learn about the rescue of four hostages, we felt a tad more hopeful than we did the day before. The hostages’ resilience represents the lengths to which Israel will go to save a life, and to work against double standards that other countries are not held to in order to hold off terrorists on the border with Gaza, let alone terrorists on the northern, eastern, and southern borders, too.

On Shavuot, June 12th, the festival holiday we call “Z’man Matan Torateinu,” the season of the giving of Torah, we culminated seven weeks of seven days between Passover, “Z’man Cheiruteinu,” the season of our redemption from Egyptian slavery, and the revelation of Torah at Sinai. When the Israelites entered into an eternal covenant with the Eternal One, God said that the covenant was sealed “not only with those who were there that day, but with all those who [were] not there that day” (Deuteronomy 29). We are eternally the people who move from redemption—bondage in all its forms—to revelation, the ever-renewing experience of living in covenant with the Eternal One.

Such an eternal covenant prompts us to respond to mitzvot, commandments in Torah, to bear witness to the Eternal One with our deeds. In times like these, “Choose life!” is reflected in the hostage rescue and in the efforts, though not perfect, to safeguard Israel—a sovereign nation, a democratic state, and an American ally.

As we seek ways to end this war with the release of all the hostages as a key requirement, let’s remember what Golda Meir made clear and which remains true today, “If the Palestinians (currently held hostage by Iranian proxies) laid down their guns, there would be peace. If Israel laid down its guns there would be no Israel.”

Am Yisrael Chai!

L’Shalom,