As we greet the recent news of a signed deal between Israel and Hamas, and eagerly await the swift return of the hostages, I’m sharing here the words I offered on Sunday evening at our KW regional October 7th memorial. It was wonderful to see so many of our Temple Shalom community there for this important gathering.
When I was living in Jerusalem 15 years ago, every day I walked past a tent outside the Prime Minister’s residence – this tent was the temporary home of Gilad Shalit’s family, set up after his capture by Hamas to urge the Israeli government to act to bring him home. This temporary structure became a permanent fixture of my daily routine and the Rehavia neighbourhood.
Tents are temporary, flimsy structures. They are not meant to take the place of our brick and mortar homes. Tomorrow night, we celebrate the start of Sukkot – we build temporary hut-like structures, in which we dwell for this week alone. They are fragile, held together sometimes with twine, zip ties, and duct tape as the only protection against the fierce winds and uncertain weather of an Ontario October. They are not meant to be permanent.
Two years ago, October 7, took place right at the end of the Sukkot holiday. For weeks and months after, the Sukkot remained standing in the communities in the south of Israel attacked. These fragile huts , decorated with children’s drawings and paper chains, were marred by the carnage of that day. Instead of being dismantled and carefully stored away for next year, they stayed up among the rubble of the attacks, waiting for families and communities to return to the south. The temporary Sukkot became permanent, but devoid of life, empty of the joy that marks this time on the Jewish calendar, a silent monument to the violent disruption of that Shmini Atzeret-Simchat Torah morning.
Almost exactly 14 years ago, the news broke of a deal to bring Gilad Shalit home, and his family announced that after over a year, they would pack up their tent in Jerusalem and return home to await the return of their son. It was finally time to dismantle that permanent temporary structure.
Tonight, we remember the 1195 lives lost on 10/7 and the over 40 hostages murdered in captivity since, and we join our voices with the tens of thousands of Israelis who marched last night in Tel Aviv to call for the immediate return of the 48 hostages, living and dead. We pray that this Sukkot will see a permanent and lasting Sukkat Shalom, a sheltering peace, spread over all Israel. May the tents that have become permanent fixtures in Hostage Square become temporary once again, just like the Sukkot we build this week.
