During these days of “Operation Wings of Liberty,” we rock back and forth between outbursts of joy, deep sadness and disappointment, anxiety and fear, despair and once again hope. Sixteen months of war, during which we have hoped, anticipated, prayed to witnesses the release of our sisters and brothers held in anguish and captivity.
In our congregation, we read the names of the hostages each week and sing, our voices catching in our throats, “May the All-Present One have mercy on them and bring them out from narrow straits to broad expanses, from darkness to light.” As I close my eyes, I sense a trembling in my body and in my soul from the intensity of our pleas.
The ripple of pain touches us all, even as we make no pretense of understanding the suffering of the families and those who are close to them. How can we now withstand the nerve-wracking wait?
In Parshat Va’era, God dispatches Moses with a promise to liberate the people, but “when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage” (Ex. 6:9). May we, as individuals and as a people, be wise enough now to make use of, and draw strength from, the ability that exists within all of us to adopt the quality we call in Hebrew orekh ruaḥ — patience, restraint, and moderation.
