Sadly, during this year’s Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, the Jewish state added more names to the list of those who died at the hands of enemies who want Israel destroyed.
As was the case last year, not only were the dead remembered, but those who, hopefully, are still alive, being held hostage by our enemies and whose welfare is still of great concern, were also present in people’s minds. Indeed, since that fateful Oct. 7 day, the hostages have been on the mind of every concerned Jew and every non-Jew who is an ohev Yisrael (“lover of the Jewish people”).
To assist in keeping people aware of them and their plight, Chabad maintains a list online that includes:
- The names of those believed to still be alive;
- The names of those released and returned;
- The names of those known to have died and whose bodies have been recovered and returned;
- The names of those known to have died, but whose bodies have not been recovered and returned.
It is a list I have printed and kept close since Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Over the 18 months, the list has been updated from “captured and presumed alive” to “captured and returned,” or, God forbid, “known to be dead” or “known to be dead, remains not returned.” Like so many others wanting to show solidarity since this nightmare began, I also started praying daily for them:
- For those still alive, I pray for their safe return.
- For those who had been returned, I pray for their physical and emotional healing.
- For those who died and whose remains have been returned, I pray for their souls.
- For those who have died and whose remains are still in Gaza, I pray for their souls and for their remains to be returned to their families for proper burial.
As the status of the hostages has changed and the website updated, I’ve had to print out newer, more accurate versions of the list. The list of those returned has grown; unfortunately, so has the number of dead.
The first time I printed off a new list, the question occurred to me: What should I do with the outdated lists? Should they just be thrown in the trash? Are they just lists of names on pieces of paper? Or should they be deemed sacred and disposed of like other sacred documents—ultimately buried in a Jewish cemetery?
One might ask, what would make these outdated lists sacred? Jewish tradition teaches that holy texts and other documents are reserved for burial if they contain God’s name. Ritual objects such as Torah rollers are buried because they are closely associated with Divine sanctity. But these lists only contain the names of people; God’s name appears nowhere on them.
True. Nevertheless, because of what the people have experienced, the lists are indeed sacred. They are sacred because every Jewish person listed was not only kidnapped but was subjected to beatings, torture, rape, starvation and/or murder because he or she is or was a Jew. (The non-Jews who were captured on Oct. 7 experienced similar treatment, as they chose to associate with Jews.)
Jewish tradition is emphatically clear: When Jews—all Jews, religious or secular—suffer or die simply because they are Jews, their suffering and deaths are considered to have occurred al kiddush Hashem “for the sanctification of God’s name.” They automatically become kedoshim or “sanctified” Jews. The fact that Jews serve as a “walking commercial” for God’s holiness is believed by many to be the absolute underlying cause of Jew-hatred, no matter where it comes from.
Some may be skeptical of such a notion. But in the wake of Elon Musk’s haters randomly vandalizing Tesla cars and dealerships, my friend and teacher, Rabbi Chaim Capland, makes this insightful observation. He says that we Jews are like Teslas. Those who hate the company’s CEO and what he stands for would like to eliminate him, but they can’t. So, they attack the product that is most associated with him. Those who hate God and what God stands for will never succeed in eliminating Him. So, they attack those who historically have been most closely associated with Him and what He stands for.
At the beginning of the Torah portion Kedoshim, we are given the assignment to be a holy community: “The Lord spoke to Moses saying: Speak to all the community of Israel and say to them: You will be holy (kedoshim) because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”(Leviticus 19:1-2)
This command is to all Jews: religious or secular, committed or uncommitted, knowledgeable or not so well-versed. Whether we like it or not, this is how the world usually responds to us. And, as has been the case so often in the past, the world resents us for it.
This is why these lists, even the ones no longer up to date, are sacred, and why I can’t just throw them in the trash. Instead, they’ve been placed in a special box with other sacred texts of mine no longer usable—prayerbooks, Bibles, Talmudic volumes, etc. With these, the old lists eventually will be given a proper burial.
On Yom Hazikaron, I prayed for the souls of those killed. But I also continue to pray for the people on my current list, adding this prayer, “Please, God, may they all come home soon.”
May the list now in my hands be the last one I have to print out.
{Reposted from JNS}
