Fulfill the promise of dancing again.

This is not the first time, but I pray that it is the last.

The hours and minutes tick by, till the release of the live hostages- they say that perhaps even tonight they will be brought home. Perhaps Ham*s now rushes them out like Pharoah, eager to be gone with them. I wonder, they are not known for their equanimity nor thoughtfulness.

Before there were ceremonies and the cruelty of fanfare, now it feels like the curse they brought upon themselves afflicts them and sends our people back home in a rush.

I pray that it is so, for we have no idea what will come next as a result of this deal that is riddled with risk.

Will we finally know who is alive and who has been k*lled?

Will they be felt in the arms of their loved ones, or will they come home to houses that were emptied on the 7th of October those two years ago?

How will it feel to see those caskets filled by our brothers brought back home to their eternal resting places?

We have been blessed and broken by these reunions before.

I don't know how it will feel to see the last of it- the embraces, the cries, the smiles, the pain.

The truth told, the news people never want to have to share.

And us, watching from our television screens and phones in awe and gratitude, suffering and solemnity, holding our breath one last time.

******

God has brought us to this day.

On Simchat Torah they were taken, on erev Simchat Torah they are returned.

How we understand the Divine, I do not know.

But from this obviousness of intention, I think we are meant to try.

Or at least know that He is here, present in this land, with us.

Every chapter of Jewish history has beginnings and endings.

Where we transition to a new moment, the next perek, the next part of our story. A new purpose.

The last two years, the people of Israel have been driven by one thing- bringing our people home.

Here we are, the Sukkot standing once again, on the eve of holding our missing and our Torahs in our arms.

And fulfill the promise of dancing again.

May it be God's will that they all return, and be blessed with long lives of purpose and no more pain.

Of love and life, serenity and healing.

Where they forgive us and find peace.