I saw the excellent show "Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Yom Kippur War" last September and remember being so moved when this song began at the end of the evening, after learning how the Yom Kippur War influenced Cohen's life and music. The yellow ribbon, the symbol for remembering the hostages, lit up in the corner, and no words were needed to explain. The show took place at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and before we entered, we walked through the Hostages Square, which is in front of the museum. I remember the chill down my back when I saw Aviva Siegel sharing her experiences with a circle of listeners, at the time still advocating for the release of her husband, Keith. It reminded me too much of the scenes of holocaust survivors sharing their testimonies, so we will never forget.
When I woke up to the joyous and almost unbelievable news of the ceasefire on Thursday, I thought of all the people I knew whose lives were altered by October 7th and the war in the past two years. I remember hearing the tragic news that a niece of one of my colleagues was murdered at the Nova festival, and a friend's sister came back from it and wouldn't talk about it for weeks. In December 2023, I came to work to learn that the son of one of my colleagues had been killed in Khan Younis, a father to three young children. At the shiva, his father shared how important it was for him to bring back the security to the people living in the Gaza Envelope, and to all of us in Israel. And there was a hope among the soldiers that they would bring the hostages home. For many, it was their motivation to keep going, despite the risk and the challenges. A year and a half later, a son of another colleague began his mandatory army service in the Armored Corps, and understandably, she's been dreadfully worried about what will happen after he finishes his training. She has been going to the Hostage Square Saturday rallies almost every week since the war began, pleading for the return of the hostages and for the war to end in an agreement. And this week it will finally happen. There's a debate going on whether the agreement that was reached could have happened a year ago, or if it was really reached because of the army and the geopolitical changes in the region, as Netanyahu insists. What's clear is that an agreement was reached thanks to Trump's efforts (and we were all holding our breath that it would happen before the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize winner), and Trump has repeatedly mentioned the protests that have swept the country, built on the principle that we will not tolerate a reality in which our people are abandoned and left behind. My thoughts are with the 42 hostages who were killed in captivity; for 42 families, this will be an understandably difficult time. And yet, hopefully, this will be the beginning of recovery for everyone affected by this war.
