Jon Polin said it well at the Democratic National Convention, declaring to thunderous applause that the freedom of Israeli hostages, including his son Hersh, among five Americans, is a humanitarian issue.
But Hersh would never taste freedom again. Hamas terrorists brutally murdered Hersh along with five other hostages just days after his parents spoke.
For Hamas, the hostages are less than human; they are objects, trade commodities, chips used to demand the best deal; and when they are no longer deemed useful, they are savagely executed.
Jon Polin stands with his wife, Rachel Goldberg, as she speaks about their son Hersh Goldberg-Polin at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 21.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
In contrast, for Israel, each hostage is of unique and inestimable value, each has a human story. Who would not be moved by Hersh’s story: a young man, a lover of song and dance, a seeker of peace, of life—arm blown off by Hamas terrorists as he was carted off. Who would not be moved by Hersh’s mother, Rachel, crying out at Hersh’s funeral “Okay sweet boy, go now on your journey. I hope it’s as good as the trips you dreamt about, because finally, my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, you’re free.”
As negotiations for the release of the hostages plod on, these tragic, real-life stories emotionally set off the heart to break, to cry. The humanitarian concern overrides all diplomatic considerations.
While the heart breaks, demanding the hostages return, the head moves in another direction, as a lopsided exchange may lead to more terrorism, more Israeli deaths. Nadav Shragi, in a report to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, analyzed the aftermath of the exchange in 2004, of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held captive. According to Shragi, those freed in the deal murdered 35 Israelis by 2007. And of course, Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7 barbaric massacre was among the 1027 prisoners exchanged for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
And the head also wonders if some of the hostages are freed for many, many hundreds of Palestinian terrorists, and a temporary ceasefire is reached, what of those who remain? For how long will they be doomed? Weeks? Months? Years? Forever?
So, which is it? Will a deal made be a time of joy or sadness? A time to celebrate with the heart or mourn with the mind?
Ecclesiastes writes: “Everything has its season…a time to weep, and a time to laugh…a time to wail and a time to dance…a time to rend garments and a time to mend.”
Yehuda Amichai, the great Israeli poet, understands the world differently. He writes: “Ecclesiastes was wrong about that…a person needs to love and hate at the same moment. To laugh and cry with the same eyes…To make love in war and war in love.”
Jewish law marks this phenomenon when it asks that at the height of our greatest joy, at a wedding itself, that we break a glass to remember the shattered stone Temples and the shattered human temples, that need fixing.
Thus, if ever a deal is made, as the freed hostages fall into the arms of their family, Israel and the Jewish people and humankind of moral conscience will be uplifted.
And yet, in the background will be the piercing painful sound of glass breaking, of hostages who remain in those suffocating tunnels, of people whose names we do not yet know, who will surely be murdered or wounded for life by terrorists newly released.
Yes, even if some hostages will be freed, it will not be a moment of euphoria. It will be that moment under the chuppah (wedding canopy) when we celebrate happiness, only to firmly plant our foot on the glass and break it, remembering the souls and the families whose lives are forever shattered.
Avi Weiss is founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – the Bayit, Bronx, NY, founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT) and Yeshivat Maharat (YM) rabbinical schools, and co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship (IRF). He is a longtime activist for Jewish causes, Israel, and human rights.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
