Hamas Releases Remaining Hostages

For the last 737 days, I was able to lie down at night next to my wife.  I sleepy peacefully, in my little slice of the world with the knowledge that the veterans that came to fill the shoes of my brothers and sisters had the watch.  But that idyllic snow globe under which most of us lived most of our lives burst on 9-11.  The same has happened to Yisrael, one of our closest allies and some of those who trod the same sands that Moshe trod were swept away to live a literal shoal, the Hamas tunnels in the bowels of the Earth.  Today is Simchat Torah, making their return especially joyful.

Today is the day that we had planned on embarking on a new journey: the release of https://www.thekosherexperiment.com/ and were planning on publishing our first post and recipe.  However, since this is “The Kosher Experiment” and not just the pondering and philosophy of how to cook a kosher flanken, the events of the world take precedence.

To put things in perspective, I was raised goyshe and in an overly Evangelical church.  The Hostages and their perseverance remind me of a song that I learned long ago in Sunday School, “This Little Light of Mine.”  Through a few minutes of research reveal it to be a minstrel of American slaves and we, as Jews, don’t think that Hasatan will snuff it out, it is really fitting here.  The light of those that were ripped from their families, their lives, and the country continued to shine.  Each of them was one small light, as we all are.  But together, our small lights makeup the light of the Jewish people, whether in Eretz Yisrael or the diaspora.

Our hope is that each of you will take today and remember each of thenames and the sacrifices that they have made over the past two-plus years.  They embody who we we are.  For complete coverage, see https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-870233/.  I will not list them here.

Just as these heroes embody “Am Yisroel Chai” and what it means, there are those whose flame was gone far too soon, and this is an especially sad loss because we now remember their flames at Yaharezeits, Yizko, and Kever Avot.