Parshat Beshalach: The Return of Israel’s Last Hostage
I wrote this piece not long ago, in June of last year when Israel marked the 600th day of the war with Hamas. However with the release this week of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, it means much more today. I have adjusted the essay to reflect this week’s events.
The origins of Birkat HaMazon – Grace After Meals – are well documented according to Jewish tradition. There are four blessings that make up Bentsching and they reflect four different pivotal periods or epochs of Jewish history.
The First Blessing – Birkat HaZan – is a blessing that focuses on sustenance. It was composed by Moshe in gratitude for the Manna that sustained the Israelites in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. It is thanks for all the food and nourishment that God gives us every day.
The Second Blessing – Birkat HaAretz – is a blessing for the land, specifically for Eretz Yisrael – the Land of Israel. Moshe’s successor, Joshua composed this blessing when the Israelites entered and benefitted from the produce of the Land of Israel. Thus we thank God “for having given as a heritage to our ancestors a precious, good and spacious land.”
The Third Blessing focuses on Yerushalayim/Jerusalem and was composed by both King David who established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his son, King Solomon who built the First Temple there. Many view the reign of Solomon as the apex and highlight of Jewish history when there was peace with Israel’s neighbors and unity within.
And then we get to The Fourth Blessing. It is called HaTov VeHameitiv – Who is Good and Does Good, in reference to God – Who is Good and Does Good. The blessing consists of a whole laundry list of good things that God is and does.
And this is where it gets a bit strange. What historical event prompted this blessing? It was instituted by Rabban Gamliel and his court in Yavneh after the Bar Kochba revolt. That revolt ended up a major fail and countless thousands died. Apparently there was a miracle and the bodies that had been left unburied were found intact, allowing for their proper burial. And this is the source for this blessing of thanking God for Being Good and Doing Good.
You might be scratching your head about the origins of this blessing and I don’t blame you. When you think of great moments in Jewish history and the blessings that reference them, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the first three and the fourth. We go from Moshe and Manna, to Joshua and Eretz Yisrael to David/Solomon and the Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem – to burying the dead from the Bar Kochba revolt?! Kinda doesn’t belong.
It does. And in truth, this blessing probably holds more meaning for us today than any of the others.
The Bar Kochba revolt was a very pivotal moment in Jewish history. The Romans had destroyed the 2nd Temple in the year 70 and the Jews were living in a somewhat livable occupation under them. When Roman rule became more onerous however, Simon Bar Kochba led a revolt against them and indeed had some initial success for a few years, from 132-135. But the Romans were the super-power at the time and its army most formidable. It is reputed that nearly one third of the Roman army took part in the campaign to crush Bar Kochba and the Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed and everything went downhill from there. It led to the depopulation of Judea and a ban on Jewish residency in Jerusalem, among other tragedies.
This was a turning point in Jewish history. When Bar Kochba’s final fortress, Beitar fell, it marked the beginning of the long 2000 year Galut/Exile. No more independent Jewish country until 1948. No more Jewish army, government, land or Jerusalem as our capital. Jewish life would now be defined solely by observance of Jewish practice and study of Torah as Jews spread to the four corners of the globe.
The burying of the dead of that tragedy was the beginning of closure to that epoch in Jewish history and with it, the ability to move forward and onward to the new reality of Jewish life. Until those bodies could be retrieved and buried, there would remain open wounds of the Bar Kochba revolt and Roman rulership. So long as those bodies lay in the fields and cities of destruction, there would remain the inability to adapt to the new state of affairs facing the Jewish people that would define us for two millennia.
And this is why this last blessing is so meaningful for us today. With the body of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, finally returning to his family and homeland this past week, Israel and Jews everywhere can move forward from October 7th. As long as just one hostage or body still remained in Gaza, this could not happen.
It goes without saying that the greatest pain during these long years was being felt by the families of the hostages and those who were murdered. But beyond the pain of the loved ones, it was something that hung over the entire nation of Israel as a whole and Jews everywhere. Until every last one of those hostages – dead or alive – came home, we could not fully move forward from October 7th. There can never be a complete processing, closure and healing to any tragedy while it is still ongoing. Now that it is finally over, there can.
The Good mentioned in this blessing was the kindness by God in allowing for the burial of the dead and with it, the ability for the Jewish people to move on in the aftermath of the catastrophe of the war with the Romans. To be able to pivot into a new life that would last for over 2000 years. It is the self-same sentiment that we are presently feeling now that Master Sgt. Ran Gvili z”l has had his proper burial in Israel.
May the HaTov VeHameitiv blessing resonate today and do its wonders as it did so long ago, and allow Israel and our people to move forward from tragedy and destruction to happier times filled with God’s blessings. And just as we Jewish people have since flourished magnificently after the fall of Beitar, we shall do so once again now that October 7th is in the rear-view mirror.
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
-Dire Straits
