StevenZvi Gleiberman, a blend of the names Steven and Tzvi, grew up in Brooklyn before transitioning from a successful career in the healthcare industry to a new life in Jerusalem in November 2020 and can be reached at [email protected].
We heard the most tragic news just yesterday morning. The bodies of 6 hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lubnov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; and Almog Sarusi, 27 were recovered from the tunnels of Gaza.
A tragic end to a horrific story that began for these 6 beautiful souls on October 7th. We are crying collective tears, and it seems that the heavens are crying as well (it is cloudy and even raining here in parts of Israel for the first time in many months).
Yet, when going on the news sites and social media, the landscape is cluttered not with reflections of our loss, not for calls to eliminate Hamas, but with political commentary and divisive rhetoric. It’s as if the essence of our humanity is overshadowed by a relentless need to critique and divide.
Why is it that when faced with profound national loss, our focus drifts so swiftly to finger-pointing and political posturing?
Are we as wrong as American politics, where, for example, every time there is gun violence, all we can do is go cable news and social media and regurgitate our talking points about gun control, in that that we need more guns or less guns on the street, and completely negate the fact that tragedy struck?
Just last week, we all watched Hersh’s parents at the Gaza border. His mother’s tears and his father’s desperate cries into a megaphone were not just sounds of personal pain but a national cry of pain. They weren’t politicizing; they were simply worried parents screaming out to their child, in the hopes that he would hear them.
Yet instead of coming together in collective pain, we find ourselves at odds, barraged by clickbait that fuels division rather than unity. “Deaths of hostages heartbreaking for the entire country, except for those who lead it,” are not the banners behind which the greatest country in the world should rally. Sorry. I demand better.
Enough with the divisive rhetoric. We must be united in our sorrow, not fractured by it. Our attention should not be on assigning blame but on honoring the magical lives we've lost. Can we not, as a society, pause in our relentless debates and simply mourn?
The tragedy of Hersh, Eden, Ori, Alex, Carmel, and Almog is not a political talking point; it is a national heartbreak. It’s a reminder of the fragility of life. Let’s remember the human stories behind the headlines and reflect on our collective responsibility to each other, even more so, as these 6 were intertwined with ours by family, friendship, and country.
Today and over the next days and weeks, let us make the conscious decision to be the nation that our lost loved ones deserved, a nation marked by unity and an unwavering commitment to cherish life. Let their blessed memories inspire us to mend our rifts and to strengthen the bond that holds us together as a people.
המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים May you be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.