It’s been a whirlwind — Sukkos preparations carried on with the hum of a possible hostage deal in the background. We shopped, cooked, built, and decorated our sukkah as usual, all while wondering where the negotiations would lead.
The IDF, too, prepared for Sukkos — constructing thousands of sukkahs of various sizes on bases throughout the country, many of which were built to withstand field conditions. It distributed 13,000 sets of Arba Minim and 60,000 mostly pocket-sized machzorim. The largest sukkah, measuring 200 square meters (about 2,150 square feet) with seating for 550, rose at the Shizafon base in the Negev. Many wives of reservists received cupcakes, gift cards, and fruit platters as a token of appreciation for their sacrifice. In Beit Shemesh, Ezrat Achim volunteers offered to build sukkahs for women whose husbands were serving in reserve duty.
On Chol HaMoed, the Israeli cabinet ratified a deal with Hamas — the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage–prisoner exchange. That decision made it possible for my son to return home from Gaza earlier than planned, and for that, we were profoundly grateful.
Everyone waited with bated breath. Would Hamas truly return all the hostages — the living and the dead? Personally, I never believed they would.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife attached a note to the homecoming packages prepared for the hostages, and President Herzog attached a note to the packages awaiting them at Ichilov Hospital. The notes welcomed them back and expressed how good it was to have them home.
On Erev Hoshanah Rabba, just hours before the anticipated start of the hostage release, hundreds of women gathered in Ramat Beit Shemesh for an evening of emunah, connection, and hope. The event, barely advertised and sold out instantly, overflowed its venue.
HaRabbanit Yemima Mizrachi led the women in heartfelt tefilah, urging us to cry out “Ana Hashem hoshi’a na” on a night when the heavens are especially open to our prayers. She spoke about the “regashot meuravot” — the mixed feelings surrounding the deal. On one hand, the joy of the hostages’ return; on the other, the heavy price we must pay and have already paid — and the knowledge that some would not come home alive.
She went on to explain that the word meuravot doesn’t only mean mixed, as in feelings. It also means mutual responsibility — areivut, the deep sense of shared responsibility that binds us as “Kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh.” We are intertwined. Before October 7, that sense of areivut had dimmed. Now, she said, it must define us once again. We must approach one another with a sense of areivut.
Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi — one of the released hostages — shared her story and the emotional moment of her daughter’s return. She, too, spoke of our nation’s strength: our collective responsibility for one another.
That same night, more than five thousand people gathered at Re’im — the site of the Nova Festival — for an all-night event of learning and song. (A Selichos gathering had been held there on Erev Yom Kippur as well.) The event culminated in the morning with a musical Hallel led by HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzefas.
The next morning, the hostage release began. We watched, spellbound, as long-awaited reunions unfolded — families who had endured the unendurable finally embracing their loved ones. What we had davened for, waited for, and dreamed of was happening before our eyes. It was hard to believe. Those faces that had followed us everywhere — flashing across mall screens, staring from bus stops, airport walls, and highway billboards — were finally back in Israeli hands.
We saw faces we had never met but had come to know — names that had lived on our lips, in our hearts, and in our tefilos: Avinatan ben Ditza Or, Eitan Avraham ben Efrat, Matan Shachar ben Anat, and so many others.
A wave of emotion swept the country — excitement, relief, and joy that hadn’t been felt in so long. As helicopters carried the hostages to the hospital, thousands — survivors and bereaved families among them — stood at the Nova site, waving them in. The IDF spokesperson released the radio communications of the pilots who flew the hostages into Israel. The pilots were clearly moved and said that this was the “most important mission of all.”
Celebrations broke out across the country — music, dancing, and the refrain of “Ufduyei Hashem yeshuvun,” “The redeemed of Hashem shall return.” In Beit Shemesh, the sign reserving the closest parking spot at the Big Fashion Mall “for the hostages when they come home” was finally, and joyfully, taken down.
On Motzaei Simchas Torah, more than ten thousand people gathered once again at the Nova site — exactly two years after the massacre — for Hakafos Shniyos. A sense of euphoria filled the air as the nation gave thanks for this incredible miracle.
Yet even amid the nationwide euphoria of Simchas Torah, many families found the joy almost unbearable. For so many, that day marks yahrzeits — some mourning several loved ones. Some of the returned hostages were no longer alive; others’ bodies have yet to be brought home. Rachel Goldberg-Polin recently wrote that she received over a thousand messages from people who felt the public was overlooking their pain. Some, she said, couldn’t understand how others could be drinking champagne and dancing in the streets while their own grief was still so raw. She reminded us that in Judaism, we often hold joy and sorrow together — but rarely has it been as difficult as it is now. The moment demands compassion and balance — sensitivity to every heart that is still hurting.
May we soon reach a time when we celebrate with areivut — not mixed emotions, but rather mutual responsibility and love, along with pure happiness and gratitude. Until then, may we continue to daven for the return of all remaining bodies still held in Gaza, the healing of the wounded, comfort for the bereaved, and the safe return of all soldiers and rescue personnel.
Suzie Steinberg, (nee Schapiro), CSW, is a native of Kew Gardens Hills and resident of Ramat Beit Shemesh who publishes articles regularly in various newspapers and magazines about life in general, and about life in Israel in particular. Her recently published children’s book titled Hashem is Always With Me can be purchased in local Judaica stores as well as online. Suzie can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and would love to hear from you.
