3 more hostages were released (in exchange for convicted terrorists serving jail time), plus 5 Thailandi workers.
Agam Berger was first, released with all of the Hamas pomp and circumstance. Agam was left behind when the other 4 female soldiers were released on Shabbat.
Then Gadi Moses (80) and Arbel Yehud (28) were released later on from an entirely different location and circumstances. They were swarmed by masses of people pushing and pulling as they were escorted to the Red Cross vehicles.
They were terrifying images to watch unfold. An old man and a young woman swarmed by terrorists.
This all happened while I was at work. So I sat in the teacher's lounge with a few other teachers watching it on someone's phone.
Simultaneously, our hearts were breaking and filled and with gratitude and joy.
Additionally, today my school is finishing their first semester. We've begun a tradition of a midyear schoolwide sing along. This year, it was also dedicated to the memory of Ori Ansbacher, as her yartzeit (anniversary of her death) coincided with our song. Her mother, Noa, and I used to teach together. I was the English teacher for her class, and she was wise and kind to me.
Ori in Hebrew means "my light". "Or" meaning "light." The song we sung today was also entitled Or.
Ori was a beautiful girl who loved nature, poetry and singing. She hiked into the Jerusalem forest one night to write as she frequently did. There a Palestinian terrorist found her... raped her... and stabbed her to death nearly causing decapitation. The event was hugely traumatic for our school and community.
But today we sang.
We sang for Ori's beautiful memory.
We sang for our souls.
We sang out to the heavens for light and peace.
We sang as the hostages were being released from terrorist hands.
We sang through our relief, joy, pain, agitation.
We sang through emotional exhaustion and spiritual fatigue.
But we sang and it felt like something released in that moment.
Shabbat should bring the release of more hostages and hopefully before that, the answer as to what happened to the Bibas family.
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