I must confess that after more than a year of defensive warfare waged by Israel against the terrorist group Hamas, I still feel trepidation that the war is coming to an end.  This conflict began shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists violently invaded southern Israel, rampaging through entire communities, murdering more than 1,200 innocent people—most of whom were civilians—and taking 250 living victims hostage. While I am relieved that 33 innocent hostages will be freed, I believe that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has a higher cost for the Jewish state that will ultimately lead to more loss of life in the long run.

After all, the first phase of the ceasefire forces Israel to release 1,900 Palestinian security prisoners, some of whom are serving life sentences, while Israel is only getting back thirty-three innocent victims. But then I saw the video of the hostages being released on Jan. 20 2025, which is when I realized life isn’t so simple, and sometimes you can’t let long term strategy get in the way of saving lives. According to the Talmud, an ancient code of Jewish law studied by Jews of every denomination encourages Jews to value life above all else, even if it takes committing a grave sin to save one. This basic Jewish ideal is encompassed in the Talmudic scripture Sanhedrin 37a, “Who saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world…” This is true regardless of the risk of freeing another Sinwar, who himself was the mastermind of the Oct. 7 2023 atrocities that included murder, rape, body desecration and kidnapping and was himself released in a 2011 hostage deal that traded over 1,000 security prisoners for a single lone soldier, 

Needless to say, this hostage deal is a risk for Israel. Releasing convicted criminals in exchange for innocent hostages is not a decision that was made through the lens of religion or scripture.  We must also listen to experts who have more training in getting us out of this kind of hell. According to Mossad chief David Barnea, “We must pay this moral debt. This [hostage-ceasefire] deal is ethically and morally the right thing to do.” He also adds, “It includes mechanisms that will ensure our [Israeli] security.” If the deal is good enough for the Mossad chief, then the deal is good enough for me. 

Now that the deal has finally been signed and some of our hostages are coming home, we still have to consider the horror the remaining hostages are living through, what we have to save them from. One of the three hostages released, Emily Damari, was maimed during the Hamas attack, her fingers were blown off. Other teenage hostages released during the November 2023 humanitarian pause report that they were forced to have sex with each other, while other victims were burned, beaten, and starved  As a Jewish person raised to understand the atrocities committed against our community in the Holocaust, I find it more important than ever for Jewish people to rescue each other when we have a chance. We must rescue the remaining hostages who are enduring this kind of monstrosity, no matter what the cost. 

On Oct. 7 2023, through no fault of her own, Israel was invaded by terrorists from Gaza. Innocent communities were forced to endure the kind of violence that keeps parents up at night. I am not Israeli, so I have no right to demand anything of the Israeli people, but as a Jew raised under Jewish values, it is clear the hostage-ceasefire deal is the only way out of this horrific situation.