Shalom

Even the most determined optimist would have been forgiven for thinking this day would never come. It’s been 738 days of captivity for the last surviving Israeli hostages. 738 days since one of history’s most pervasive wounds was ripped open. A wound that oozed pain from Southern Israel to Tel Aviv to Gaza, that violently spread across the region from Tehran, to Beirut, to Yemen, that divided communities, campuses, congregations, and even at times caused fissures within our own personal psyches. Over the weekend, someone asked me what I was going to write about the impending hostage release. After 738 days, I answered, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Now that I’m seeing it, I can only think of one word to say: Shalom. What are we saying goodbye to? If I answered, half of readers would be furious I went too far and half would be furious I didn’t go far enough. That turmoil might be replayed in my own mind. Today we can’t agree on the most basic issues. We’re not going to agree about the most complex one. What are we saying hello to? Beyond the homecoming hostages and what one hopes will be more than a temporary ceasefire, I’m not sure. Let’s give it a few days before we assess how the last 738 days will reshape the region and the world. Given that we’re talking about the Middle East, it may take a few thousand days—or even a few thousand years—for a full assessment. We can’t agree on much, but we should at least be able to agree on this: Today is a good day. Because it’s not day 739. Reuniting families are saying Shalom to one another. Shalom has settled, at least for a moment, on the region. And the wound that has spread so far and poisoned so much, at long last has a glimmer of hope in its prognosis, as the world stopped rubbing salt and started spreading salve. To the hostages and the very notion of healing: Welcome home. And Shalom.

+ All 20 remaining living hostages return to Israel, after over 2 years in Hamas captivity.

+ “In reality, the nightmare never ends; trauma that endures for generations is the surest outcome of this war. But we also know that the hostages are going home, living proof that hope can persist even in the darkest hole.” Franklin Foer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Existential Heroism of the Israeli Hostages.

+ Eli Sharabi in WaPo (Gift Article): What 491 days as a hostage taught me about Hamas. “I’m lucky to be alive, and I appreciate that fact each and every day. And I will somehow rebuild. I hope we all can.” Sharabi’s book Hostage has just been released in English.