“Finally Home”

By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.

In Parashat Beshallach, the Pesach story picks up from last week’s episode, where Pharoah, after 10 plagues, finally agrees to let B’nai Israel go free. The Israelites gather what they can, escaping from enslavement under the Pharaoh’s regime. In the climatic cinematic moment, Moshe, with God’s help, splits the Sea of Reeds into two walls of water, allowing an escape route for all of B’nai Israel to finally return home.

This biblical miracle of freedom for our people is so essential that this scene is not only read this week, but we recite these words from Shirat haYam, the Song of the Sea, every morning of the year. This biblical, historic and miraculous moment is referenced every day because had our ancestors not been freed, we would not be here to tell this story every year, over and over again at our Pesach Seders. We would not be here to celebrate Shabbat and every other holiday. Our freedom is essential to our people’s story, to our very existence.

Of all the weeks in the year, how incredibly beshert (meant to be) it is that the last remaining hostage, Ran Gvili z”l, was found and brought home to Israel during the very same week in which we read this Torah portion. 843 days in captivity felt as long, if not longer, than the 400 years that our ancestors were slaves in Egypt, especially to the Gvili family. And even one of our own staff members at Beth El has a personal connection to the Gvili’s, as Jane Adler’s family hosted Shaked, a cousin of Ran’s, this past summer. This hits home for her, for our entire Beth El community and for Jews around the world, as we have been a people in crisis since Simchat Torah of 5784.

We will mark this moment ritually on our bima this Shabbat. The absence of the yellow chair, which represented the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, will raise many emotions in those attending services: relief that they are all home; sadness this ever happened; hope that we can move forward as a people; gratitude to have closure.

Mitzrayim (Egypt) is a word derived from the root Tzar, meaning narrow place. We have all been constricted as a people since October 7th, but especially those who were literally captured, tortured, and killed have never felt such suffering until the Hamas attack.

In our parasha, prior to the final escape of our ancestors, Amalek, depicted as the quintessential enemy of the Israelites, attacked them after their Exodus from Egypt. And yet they still made it out to become B’nai Chorin, a free people, who returned back to Cana’an, later to be known as Israel, the home to all Jews around the world to this day. They also finally came home.

As we continue to mourn the tragic losses of so many over the past 843 days, Am Yisrael, the entire Jewish family, can also breathe a sigh of relief, albeit a muted celebration, that no hostages remain in Gaza. For the first time in two and half years, we can have closure on this horrific chapter in Israel’s history, in our people’s history. We have finally all made it out of the narrow place, and will hopefully never experience such trauma again. 

They are all finally home.