This week, one of our prayers has been answered: Edan Alexander is free.
Taken hostage during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and dragged into the Gaza Strip along with some 250 others, he is now able to see the sky after 584 days in captivity. And while we thank God for his return, we must also take a few minutes to reflect on something even larger—what it means when a young man like Edan chooses to leave his family, friends and future behind to serve a people and a nation he didn’t have to.
Because he didn’t have to come back to Israel.
Edan, who was born in Tel Aviv but raised in New Jersey, could have stayed in America after graduating from Tenafly High School. Like many Jewish high school graduates, he could have taken a gap-year program in Israel (several thousand do so each year), gone to college or found a job. He could have let others carry the burden of Israel’s defense.
Instead, the dual U.S.-Israeli citizen voluntarily enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, joining a program called Garin Tzabar in 2022. Because his parents and siblings live in the United States, he became a lone soldier.
And now he is home—not just to Israel, but to us all.
The now 21-year-old (he was 19 when kidnapped) is part of a powerful generation of young Jews who are redefining identity and commitment. More than 3,500 lone soldiers serve in the Israel Defense Forces today, and hundreds come from North America. They put their lives on hold—college, relationships, careers—for something greater than themselves. They walk away from the ease and security of home to stand on the front lines of Jewish destiny.
This is not something to romanticize lightly. For Edan, that decision carried the unthinkable cost of being kidnapped by Hamas and held in captivity for a year and a half. His family, his town, his people lived in anguish, praying for his safe return. Now that he’s back, we rejoice. But we also remember there are others still being held hostage in Gaza. And there are many more lone soldiers still standing guard.
Edan’s story is uniquely his, but it speaks to something far broader. In the age of rising antisemitism, when many young Jews feel fear, confusion or alienation, there are still those who choose action, belonging and sacrifice. There are still young men and women who board a plane not for a vacation, but for a cause. They are not fleeing—not running away from who they are, but running toward it.
In synagogues across the world, the words of the Shehecheyanu were recited for Edan’s safe return: “Blessed are You, Lord our God … who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.” But there’s another blessing that applies just as strongly—the Gomel, offered after surviving danger: “Blessed are You … who bestows kindness upon the undeserving, for He has done good to me.” These ancient words now live again in our mouths because a young man gave them meaning.
Edan, and thousands of others like him, remind us that the Jewish people are still bound by purpose. That across oceans and time zones, we are still one nation. And that our future isn’t just something we hope for; it’s something our young people are literally fighting for.
We all join with those who hope that Edan will find healing, peace and joy in the days ahead. And may we never take for granted the courage of those who stand in harm’s way for the sake of Am Yisrael. Lone soldiers may serve without their immediate family nearby, but after what Edan has shown us, it is clear that they are never truly alone.
Perhaps his story—and the stories of other lone soldiers, some who paid the ultimate price—are what Natan Alterman had in mind when he wrote the concluding lines of Magesh Shel Kesef, the “Silver Platter”:
“And the rest will be told
In the chronicles of Israel.”
It is certainly a book still being written today.
{Reposted from JNS}
