Right now is one of those moments in history that will pass quickly, but is so significant. The body of Ran Gvili, 24, has finally been recovered, and for the first time since 2014, there are no hostages in the Gaza Strip. Before this moment passes, I don’t want to miss the chance to pause for a minute and reflect.
My friend Naomi Gal, who has dedicated the last two years of her life to advocating for the hostages, always says, “The period of time between Oct. 7 until the return of all the hostages will be a blip in history. How will you remember what you did during that time?”
She’s right. In the span of Jewish history, this will one day be a paragraph. But the truth is that this short period of time has felt like a lifetime for many of us. It has had repercussions for Jewish people everywhere.
The trauma. The heartbreak. The way it seeped into our conversations, our prayers, our timelines, our sense of safety. The number of lives lost, sacrificed. The worlds that have been shattered. The way time itself feels is divided into before and after.
Here are some things I want to remember from this time.
First of all, I am part of a Jewish family. Through all of this, so many of us disagreed on the best path forward and what should happen next—on leadership, war strategy and how best to advocate for the hostages. Yet we all hoped for the same result: safety, unity, peace at home.
Secondly, while we hope for peace, we cannot forget that our enemies across the border only kicked us harder when we were down. As much as the Israeli government encouraged Palestinians in Gaza to reveal information—any information—for the most part, it was met there with crickets. Others across the world used our pain as an excuse to chant for our destruction.
Most importantly, I want to remember that history repeats itself; the last two years are evidence for that. This reminder—of Gvili’s return just one day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27—means that the promise of redemption will also be fulfilled once again. And when it does, we’ll be asked what we did while we waited.
Did we believe? Did we work hard to stay close to our family, our community? Did we feel God’s presence in all of this?
One day, this whole period will be a blip in history. But for now, we live inside that blip.
