Chaverim y'karim - dear friends,

“Return, O Adonai, our captivity like rivulets in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with joy. He will go along weeping, carrying the valuable seeds; he will come back with song, carrying his sheaves.” (Psalm 126:4-6)

Hostages return with only relative freedom 

The recent return of Keith Seigel, Ofer Calderon, and Yarden Bibas plus the five Thai hostages have brought the number of those still held by Hamas to under 80. But as Emma Lazarus wrote (1883), “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.” While many have universalized that line, Lazarus wrote that in the context of the need for Jews, comfortable in America, to identify with their brethren suffering the indignities of antisemitism of Europe.

You may know Emma Lazarus for her famous poem, The New Colossus (1883), with its connection to the Statue of Liberty. In those lines, she immortalized the goal of this great nation of ours to be a home for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. 

Lazarus grew up in a Sephardic Jewish family and was a descendant of the first Jews who came to New Amsterdam in 1654. She surely knew her own family story - let alone that of our people that has been on the march for freedom, with the exception of a few centuries here or there, ever since we left Egypt over 3,500 years ago - and which we celebrate in this week’s Torah reading. 

Parashat B’shalach — This week’s Torah portion

In parashat B'shalach, our Torah takes us to the moment where we stand by the shores of the Sea and God performs yet another miracle for us. Taken solely on face value, it is overwhelming ALL that God had done for the Israelites - from the ten plagues which leveled Egypt to this latest moment that subverts the natural order (hence making it a miracle). God is clearly IN the story and a very, very interventionist Deity. It is that very intervention which leads to our redemption, for which we give thanks every day, recall on every Shabbat, and hold the week-long festival of Pesach in the Spring to commemorate. 

Where is this intervening God today? 

Where is God to bring all of our hostages home today?  

My theology (and I am not alone in this) is not God as interventionist. I don’t expect to split the seas or miraculously bring the hostages home. Rather, I believe that God is more in the essence, the strength, the power of, in, and behind Creation and the very creatures which God has endowed with free-will and inclination for goodness and for evil. While this may not be philosophically consistent it works for me — I see humanity as God’s partners in this world. I do not see God in Hamas, but I do see God in the strength of the hostages. I do not see God in a government nor do I see God in religious zealots.  

According to Menachem Mendel of Kotzk who lived in the late 18th century and early 19th century “God dwells wherever we let God in.” To my way of thinking we are God’s partners when we comfort the mourners, when we celebrate the return of our hostages and when we weep as we watch a family reunite after 485 days. 

God is in the tears that weep with a brother, a husband, a son, a friend returning home. God is in the strength that enabled Arbel Yehoud, Agam Berger, and the other women who were subjected to the cruelest of treatment to find insight and strength to survive. 

God was also at Hostage Square last Saturday night. My brother and sister-in-law are in Israel right now. They sent me a video Saturday from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. On this video, you will hear Israeli-Arab singer, Valerie Hamaty whose presence, voice, and historic lyrics speak volumes.

This singer's story alone is incredible. An Israeli, Christian-Arab, Valerie Hamaty sang this past Saturday night on the stage at Hostage Square. If you just pause for a moment and take that in — it is a moment when God is let into the society. An Israeli who is a Christian-Arab was singing at Hostage Square in front of thousands of people. This woman came in second place as Israel's upcoming representative to the Eurovision contest. This is not to say that Israel is a perfect society and that all Arabs are treated equally all the time. I know there are many ways in which Israel misses the mark. But still Valerie Hamaty’s story is remarkable and one we should all be proud of. For me, her singing, the crowd swaying together, the combined prayers and love ... THAT is a Godly moment.

God is...

I want to offer two divinely-inspired, enriched, evocative songs for you to consider as we celebrate the Song at the Sea this week - let alone sit with humility, gratitude, and hope that Israel can find some quiet with its neighbors and safety for its citizens. 

The first is a song “God Is In” by Billy Jonas. Lyrics. Video. 

The second is a song “Skyman” by Eliana Light. Lyrics & Study Guide. 

Both offer wonderful ideas and teachings with some measure of humor and honest reflection. 

My prayer for all of us is that we experience God in our lives. May we create Godly moments for others in our lives and may others be a source of holiness for us. May we let God into our lives, into our community, and into our country. Because, literally, God knows we need to. 

Rabbi Mark Cohn

rabbicohn@tsholom.org