Redemption of the captives

Submitted by Rabbi Michael Shire

Tomorrow will be the 140^th day of the taking of hostages from Israel into Gaza as negotiations take place in Paris again to seek their release. That is four months, 2 weeks and 6 days hidden away in underground tunnels or locked rooms, surrounded by armed guards and without medicine, basic hygiene or dietary needs.

Over 200 seniors, men, women, girls, children and incredulously babies taken from their homes, having seen the killing of loved ones and neighbours, suffering all kinds of abuse and some even wounded from gunfire. We wonder what it must be like to live like this for so long, without knowledge of what is happening and losing hope of ever getting out alive. Many may be dead already. It is clear that the attack on October 7^th had a number of goals, some of which are unspeakable akin to the worst atrocities of the Holocaust and the earlier pogroms of Eastern Europe and Arab lands. One of the goals of the attackers was to kidnap civilians of all ages and genders in order to have a ransoming opportunity once the killing and other atrocities had ended. It was yet another way of putting human shields in harm’s way to hide behind.

Tragically the Jewish People know a great deal about the capture of hostages, their lives used to bargain for money or exchange of prisoners. It is not a new phenomenon, though the very fact that we have to experience again today is truly shocking. In fact our experience of kidnapping goes right back to the time of Abraham.

“When Abram heard that his kinsman Lot had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers,  numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan” (Gen. 14:14).

Abraham manages to release his nephew Lot before he can be used as a ransom for the land that Abraham has settled. Despite the overwhelming forces against him, Abraham is prepared to risk all to save the life of one, because each life is precious and thus began the Jewish principle that we are not complete without the safety and security of all our people. Our daily liturgy traditionally has included the blessing, Blessed are You, Adonai our God, who releases the captives from imprisonment. Matir Asurim

This simple statement has been recited by Jews daily for over 2000 years because in each generation, there were Jews needing to be released from captivity. In the 11^th century, the rabbinic commentator Rashi interpreting the Ten Commandments makes the poignant observation that the 8th Commandment; You shall not steal refers mainly to stealing people or kidnapping. He of course lived during the time of the Crusades in medieval France along the path of the maurading Crusaders going to the Holyland. The Crusaders remarked, why go all the way to the Holy land to kill infidels when we have Jewish infidels right here in our midst. Jews were killed, martyred and taken as hostages for ransom.

Over time, this religious obligation of pidyon shevuim – release of the captives became significant in community life whether in medieval France, Spain or Egypt. As Jews were taken as captives by local Kings, Princes or Church leaders, they made demands for the release of the captives to the leaders of the local Jewish community. The community had to find exorbitant funds or release the perpetrators from debts in order to get release of the captives. It was huge burden on the whole community and became a regular occurrence across Jewish communities. But each time, the community took responsibility to find a way to release those kidnapped and bring them back to safety and their families. The Talmud defines pidyon shevuim it as a mitzvah rabbah – a great duty for captivity is seen as worse than starvation and even death. (Talmud Baba Batra 8b).

Medieval Jewish communities would take it upon themselves to ransom captives but were wary of encouraging perpetrators to carry out more kidnapping knowing that Jews would always find a way to pay the ransom demanded. So the ruling was established, “One does not ransom captives for more than their value because of Tikkun Olam  (literally: “fixing the world”; for the good order of the world; as a precaution for the general good) and one does not help captives escape because of Tikkun Olam.” Meaning paying over the odds would be a financial burden on the community and encourage more kidnapping leading to higher ransom payments.

So Jewish principles require us to consider the capture of hostages as a communal even National responsibility, one that we should make the highest priority of our actions and concerns and yet ensure that we remove the possibility of more kidnapping and hostage taking leading to more misery and harm to innocents. In this vein, the Israeli Government has long advocated exchanging Palestinian prisoners, often convicted for crimes against Israelis, for Jewish hostages taken. Famously in 2011 after years in captivity, Gilad Shalit was ransomed for over 1000 Palestinians in Israeli jails including Yahya Sinwar, the current leader of Hamas who designed the Oct 7^th raid. Israeli soldiers know that no-one will be left behind if at all possible and then sometimes even when considered impossible. We all remember the audacious raid on Entebbe Airport in 1976 after Israelis were hijacked on an Air France place. Israel showed the world that Jews were no longer fair game for kidnapping, terrorism and bargaining. The continuous history of kidnapping Jews was met for the first time by an Israeli army carrying out this commitment to pidyon hashuvim

So we have to ask the question. What price to pay today for the release of the hostages? It is the existential question of the Jewish People worldwide today and cannot be avoided wherever we live. If we are to identify as Jews and represent Jewish values and our collective responsibility as a People, we know that whatever is decided whether to pursue Hamas to the bitter end or end this war for the sake of returning hostages and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza affects us all.

In a conversation recently between two of Israel’s leading thinkers, the direction of Israel’s strategy in Gaza emerged as a contentious issue. Yossi Klein Halinvi strongly advocated for Israel’s current strategy. We must defeat Hamas, he says, so that they never can be force for terror against us again. It is self-defence. The rescuing of the hostages needs to be of secondary importance. Doniel Hartman however suggests the opposite – the Jewish imperative is to release the hostages – that is the thrust of Jewish teaching and value for our long history and experience. That is what should shape Israel’s strategy in Gaza. For self-defence means protection of the self – the National self that includes all hostages. Being together is our self-defence. That is our source of strength as a People for thousands of years – we are all connected in that way. It is also our source of weakness, as enemies know we will always take priority to rescue our own. We will have to bear an unbearable price to redeem the hostages for which we have no choice. We demonstrate to the world that our people, our grandparents, mothers, wives, children and babies are the most precious thing to us. That we as a people cannot be whole again without them. That is what gives us strength and power – the binding up the wounds of the families and the nation as a whole and the bringing home of all our people.  

That is why, along with Emmanuel Church, we have instituted a new bulletin board in the Church lobby showing the pictures and bios of the hostages along with a traditional Jewish prayer entitled Aheinu Kol Beit Israel –  the whole House of Israel. It will remind us all and all our visitors that this is our religious obligation – to seek release of the captives –  pidyon shevuim – to reunite them with their families – to bring peace of mind to all who have been traumatized and to demonstrate to the world that we are Jews who prize life, freedom and family over all.