The first mitzvah for the collective Jewish people–sanctifying the moon–is found in this week’s parsha. This law is followed by the rituals of the Seder; in particular the maror, bitter herbs.
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, of New York’s Kehilath Jeshurun, teaches that bitterness is never the end. Over the last week, as the stories of captivity are revealed to us by the released hostages, we discover that the marking of time gave them the strength to survive.
Yet, not ordinary time, but sacred time.
Decades ago, when the Iron Curtain fell, the Jews of the Soviet Union would often ask for a luach, a Jewish calendar.
We saw comparable moments in Gaza as Agam Berger described refraining from chametz on Passover and fasting on Yom Kippur, even in the most unsanitary and difficult conditions.
Last May, while on a JNF USA mission, the mother of captive Omer Shem Tov told a story that was told by another released captive: Her son would find a napkin every seven days and place it on his head and recite the words of kiddush to mark the passing of another Shabbat.
These moments we are experiencing together will be marked in time forever.
They are filled with bitterness and with sweetness. Just as we read of the beginning of the redemption of our people in the narrative of our Torah this week, so too, may our redemption continue as our hostages return.