Friday January 24, 2025/24 Tevet 5785
Parashat Vaera
Friends/Hevre,
Emily Damari. Romi Gonen. Doron Steinbrecher. Names seared into our hearts as last Sunday we watched with bated breath for them to emerge from the dungeons of Gaza into the custody of the IDF and then the impassioned embrace of their families. Many of our hearts were also throbbing with other hostage names once similarly held close; names now passed from the hopeful terrain of prayer to the solemn landscape of memory. And just hours ago we learned the names of the next four hostages to be released tomorrow: Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag.
All these events are unfolding against the backdrop of our Torah readings from the Book of Shemot (Exodus), which literally means “Names”. It’s called that because of the book's initial listing of the names of Jacob's children who went down to Egypt and whose descendants became enslaved to Pharoah. In an eerie parallel to our own times, this week’s parasha, Vaera, continues the story of Moshe and Aaron seeking their liberation.
Jewish tradition teaches we each have three names: one given to us by our parents, one which we are called by our friends and peers, and one which we make for ourselves. The names of all the hostages we carry in our hearts are those their parents gave them and those by which they have been called for over 15 months by people around the world praying for their release.
Thankfully, those prayers are now being answered for some of the hostages, as we continue to plead for the release of those who remain in captivity. The question that hovers for those now free is this: what name will they be able to make for themselves?
The long and difficult road to recovery from such a harrowing trauma seems unfathomable. Healing from their physical and psychological wounds is one struggle. Transcending the horrific narrative of their time as hostages is another. Will they ever be able to recover an idea of themselves shaped by possibilities that lie beyond these terrifying times? Will we ever be able to see them as more than the hostages they once were?
Just this week, Nova survivor Yuval Raphael was selected to represent Israel at the 2025 Eurovision song contest. Yuval survived October 7 by hiding under a pile of murdered festival-goers in a roadside bomb shelter. Starting to sing professionally has been a major force of her healing. At the contest, Yuval says she wants to tell the story of her country not from a position of pity, but one of pride. In her words from a recent interview, “I want to tell them the story of the country, of what I went through, of what others went through…I want to tell the story, but not from a place of seeking pity. I want it to be from a place of standing strong in the face of this…”. In the most profound way, Yuval is making a name for herself.
The truest freedom we can grant another is one that enables them to write their own narrative; one that not only frees them from their nightmares but makes possible their dreams.
In Hebrew the word for “soul” is neshama, spelled nun-shin-mem-heh, נשמה. The middle two letters, shin and mem, spell shem which means “name”. Ideally, our name conveys our essence, our spirit, our soul, one unencumbered by fate but free to chase after destiny.
With the hostages to be released tomorrow having been announced, let’s now also remember the names Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag -- not only for what they’ve endured, but for all, we pray, they’ve yet to experience.
With continued prayers for the hostages and their families, the soldiers, the injured, and the bereaved, for a lasting peace in Israel and around the world, for the safety and wellbeing of the victims of the Los Angeles wildfires, and with blessings for a Shabbat Shalom,
Dini
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