With the freeing of the hostages and the ceasefire in Israel, the prayer for peace has been realized. Our rabbis teach that redeeming the hostages is one of the most important mitzvot—commandments. It is similar to redeeming the Israelites from Egypt. A prisoner cannot free himself from a cell; he is, in essence, in the category of a slave. And without freedom, most of the mitzvot cannot be fulfilled. Maimonides places them in the category of “the poor.” When you free a prisoner or a captive, you fulfill many commandments at once.
On Rosh Hashanah, I spoke about the incredible timing we are experiencing—a time for peace. We entered the year 5786 from Creation, counting toward the year 6,000—the approach to the ultimate seventh millennium, as the Sabbath of peace. “A day in Your creation,” says the Psalmist, referring to God, “is like a thousand years in human life.”
King Solomon, in Ecclesiastes—which we just read on Shabbat Sukkot—says: “A time to be born and a time to die…” and concludes, “A time for war and a time for peace.” Twenty-eight times are listed. Jewish mysticism teaches that we should divide 6,000 by 28, each period is 214 years. This means that this year, we have reached that time. We are transitioning from a time of war to a time of peace. Somehow, it seems we must go through a time of war in order to arrive at a time of peace.
Last month, I was sitting at the hypocenter in Nagasaki after two weeks of traveling through Japan. It was excruciatingly hot—but as I sat there reflecting on that place, all complaints seemed to vanish. It was the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb—a holocaust in an instant. Skipping the ghettos, skipping the concentration camps. It was much hotter then. For a few seconds, it was as hot as the sun.
Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, flowers sprung overnight because of the heat. All it took was to drop “Little Boy” and a “Fat Man” and change human history forever. We always knew we could destroy our souls with sin; now we knew we could destroy our bodies with science.
The lasting effect of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not only in the shadows still imprinted on stone. Since 1945, more than 2,000 nuclear experiments have been conducted, scarring environments and poisoning lands. In the last two centuries, humanity has endured the ultimate wars—world wars—and with technological advancement, we have learned how to eliminate entire societies in a moment. Parashat Ki Tetzeh – teaches us that “as you go out to war against your enemies…” there are things you simply do not do—lines you must not cross, even in the heat of war and conflict.
On the exact day of Simchat Torah – the Celebration of the Torah, the hostages were released—just as Joseph, exactly two years after petitioning to be free from his imprisonment, was hurled from the pit to become the viceroy of Egypt. As the Aramaic expression goes: Min bira amikta le’igra rama—from a deep pit to the highest mountain.
As we remember all who gave their lives and were martyred, we also want to celebrate this incredible day in history. May it be the last day of the era of war and the first day of the era of peace.
Chag Sameach – Happy Sukkot and Celebration of the Torah!
Rabbi Gadi Capela