On the Day of Release – A message from Hazzan Adam

Today, a door creaks open in the desert of our hearts, and breath, long held, is finally released. We are ecstatic at the release of the hostages, and eagerly await the day when remains of those who died in captivity are returned.

We rejoice, finally, at the release of the 20 remaining living hostages – and still, our joy trembles. It is the joy that knows how much has been lost. It is the joy that remembers those who did not come home. It is the joy that stands beside grief and refuses to look away.

Since that dark morning in October, the world has carried too much sorrow,

for the hostages and their families,

for the shattered lives in Israel,

and for the aching hearts and the human lives lost in Gaza.

No one has been untouched by the shadow of this suffering. So we breathe today, with gratitude and with grief intertwined.

We dare to hope that this release might be the beginning of something larger, a loosening of fear, a softening of hatred, a mending of what has been torn apart.

Let healing rise from the ruins and the tears. Let peace take root – fragile, stubborn, as the first green