Let Them Go

Yael Eckstein  |  April 17, 2025

Writing in The Jerusalem Post, Yael says that it’s time to bring the hostages home for Passover. She writes that it is important to bring them home as soon as possible so those that are alive can begin their rehabilitation or those who’ve passed can be buried in Israel amongst loved ones:

Because this year, we are still trying to bring our people home.

Some are alive – held hostage beneath the ground in Gaza. Some are dead – murdered, their bodies stolen, hidden, desecrated. Some – we still do not know.

And yet we carry them: in our hearts, our prayers, our decisions. In the price we are willing to pay – because we do pay it, again and again, to bring our people home. 

This year, with Gaza just beyond the Egypt of old, the Exodus feels close again – too close. 

There’s a verse we read every year that is quiet, almost hidden. Buried in the rush of escape and the rising urgency to leave.

“And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had made the children of Israel swear, saying: God will surely remember you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you” (Exodus 13:19).

I’ve read it countless times. But this year, this year of tunnels and silence and waiting, it landed differently. Because Moses was committed to not leaving Joseph behind – to keeping the promise to bury Joseph in Israel…