’An entire country is waiting for them.’
Among all of the emotional statements from the reporters covering the hostage return, this is the one to which I keep returning.
Like many of you, I am sure, I was awake early Sunday morning, glued to Israeli television and refreshing any app that I thought could give me news of the first hostage release since November 2023.
The split screen on Israel’s Channel 11 was a stark contrast; thousands gathered in Gaza with guns and Hamas flags, and thousands gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, silently waiting. I cannot imagine there was a single Israeli who was not waiting, waiting, waiting.
This Shabbat, we began the Book of Exodus, our national story of freedom and of new beginnings. And while it is several weeks away, I kept thinking of the moment that the Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai. Before the thunder, before the moment of revelation, the text tells us:
וַיִּסְע֣וּ מֵרְפִידִ֗ים וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ מִדְבַּ֣ר סִינַ֔י וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נֶ֥גֶד הָהָֽר׃
Exodus 19:2
It’s an unremarkable verse, except for a strange switch of Hebrew grammar. The word camped appears twice; the first time it is, as one would expect, in the plural: they camped. The second time, however, it appears in the singular. Rashi, the great Medieval commentator, gives the answer that brought me chills today. He says: Like one person with one heart.
That is, I know and I pray, the gift and the responsibility of our people. In moments of terror and sadness, and in moments of great joy—and all the moments in between—we are one people with one heart.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer