The First Prayers
By: Lauren Adilev
For the last two years, every Shabbat at my local shul in Kiryat Arba before the Torah was returned to the ark, a man would recite a prayer for the return of the hostages, calling out one name in particular: Eitan Mor, the son of Tzvika and Efrat Mor. This family has resided in Kiryat Arba for many years. Eitan went to the Nova Festival to work as a security guard. Another local man, Elyakim Libman, went with him. For months, his family held out hope that Elyakim was alive, albeit in Hamas captivity. Sadly, it was determined in May 2024 that Elyakim, who valiantly stayed at the festival and helped numerous attendees escape, had been murdered at the Nova Festival site.
On the Shabbat of Succot, after the hostage release was announced, the prayer to release these brave, resilient captives was read one last time. The man’s voice cracked as he called out Eitan’s name, knowing that after so much hope, so much longing, so many prayers, Eitan would step over the border of Israel within forty-eight hours. It was poignant, too, that on the Shabbat of Succot Kohelet is read with the verses “a time to weep and a time to laugh”; after two years of crying and pleading to Hashem, Eitan was coming home.
“They built this shul in perfect faith that Eitan would return to wrap tefillin and pray there.”
While Eitan was held in brutal captivity, his parents raised money and started constructing a small shul on a plot of land across the street from their apartment building. They built this shul in perfect faith that Eitan would return to wrap tefillin and pray there. And on Simchat Torah, those pleas and prayers were fulfilled as men danced with the Torah scrolls, the congregation enjoyed a festive kiddush and about twenty children gathered for Kol Hane’arim, which is when children stand near the Torah scrolls, a tallit is spread over their heads and ‘hamalach hago’el oti’ (the angel who redeemed me), from the blessing that Ya’akov gave his children on his deathbed, was sung. The atmosphere was so festive, celebrating the holiday and also Eitan’s return the previous day.
It’s awesome to think that when Eitan is released from the hospital, he’ll pray in this shul and recite the prayer “matir assurim”, praising G-d for untying those who are bound. He’ll be called to the Torah and after shul he’ll join his family for Shabbat lunch: happy, whole, free.
Dreams and prayers do come true. We saw that as the hostages came home on Hoshana Rabba, the last day of Sukkot, one day before the two-year mark of Simchat Torah, which was when they were abducted.
On Sunday, 26 October, Eitan returned home after two long years as a hostage. He was in a convoy of cars that paused at the Gush Etzion junction and then made its way to Kiryat Arba. At every junction that the convoy passed, hundreds of people stood shouting with emotion, waving flags, anticipating seeing Eitan.
At the entrance to Kiryat Arba, an electronic billboard showed Eitan’s picture along with a message welcoming him home. At the traffic circle at the entrance to Eitan’s neighbourhood, several thousand people milled about, brimming with excitement. Music played and people waved banners proclaiming “v’shavu banim li’gvulam”, which means that the children will return to their borders. The crowd roared when the convoy carrying Eitan and his parents appeared.
Two columns of blue and white balloons stood outside the family’s apartment building; one was topped with a balloon with a picture of a house. Across the street, in front of the shul built by Eitan’s family, several large banners were hung in a row; each banner had a positive message for Eitan and a picture of him smiling.
On Shabbat Lech Lecha, which is the parsha that describes how G-d told Avraham and Sarah to leave their birthplace and move to Eretz Yisrael, Eitan was called to the Torah for the fourth aliya that records the story of Lot, Avraham’s nephew, being taken captive and then released, which mirrors Eitan’s story. People sang before he recited the blessings, and after the verses were read, men and women danced. I noted that although the dancing was joyous, it wasn’t too exuberant. It was as if every person dancing just knew that Eitan would come home and that they would dance in celebration. Also, Eitan recited the “ha’gomel” blessing, which one recites after going through a difficult situation.
“This is a time to build, dance, and embrace each other with high spirits of hope and positivity.”
The third verse in the third chapter of Kohelet speaks of a time to kill and a time to heal. Now, after two years of Israeli soldiers fighting valiantly to kill thousands of terrorists, after over 1 000 soldiers died and 1 500 people were murdered, including civilians in the Tel Aviv area during the June war against Iran, and the thousands of people who were injured and need to go through a process of rehabilitation, Israelis in general can begin to heal. There will never be peace, yet hopefully a war of this size can be avoided in the future. I encourage the South African Jewish community to visit, to join us in the positive aspects reflected in the verses of Kohelet. This is a time to build, dance, and embrace each other with high spirits of hope and positivity.
Lauren Adilev runs Turn Write This Way, a boutique content agency in Israel. She creates bio-cookbooks and personal memoirs, develops books/marketing campaigns and publishes articles on health/lifestyle issues in various publications. Contact her at lauren88adilev@gmail.com.
