Today, we greet the return to Israel of the body of Sergeant Ran Gvili, Hy”d, with a complicated combination of feelings. We are grateful to President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, relieved for the Gvili family who can now experience some painful closure, and proud of the brave soldiers who made this possible. Today’s events also echo an ancient Jewish story that should fill each of us with hope and faith.
Thirty years before Yetziat Mitzrayim, members of the tribe of Ephraim attempted to leave Egypt prematurely. They were massacred, and their bones were left scattered in the desert and remained unburied.
Centuries later, during the Babylonian exile, the prophet Yechezkel was shown a haunting vision: a valley of dry bones that suddenly came to life. The Talmud records a startling tradition – these were not symbolic bones, but the actual remains of B’nei Ephraim. Their dream had failed in their lifetime, but G-d refused to let it die. Rabbi Moshe Trani explains that G-d was teaching a timeless truth: human dreams may be delayed, but sacred dreams are never lost. When the Jews finally left Egypt, they brought with them another set of bones, those of Yosef who imbued in the Jewish people a dream of ultimate redemption.
For too long, Gaza has been a valley of Jewish bones, of soldiers and innocent civilians murdered with unimaginable cruelty. Since 2014, Israeli hostages have been held in Gaza, and as war raged, hope of bringing everyone back seemed to fade. Yet, today, one more soul, the final soul, has returned home.
Jewish history does not end in valleys. Those brave soldiers who marched into Gaza dreamed of a people living peacefully, “each under their vine and under their fig tree.” May we merit to see the full flowering of those dreams, with an end to the tyrannical rule of Hamas in Gaza, and the realization of the complete and ultimate redemption speedily in our days.
Mitch Aeder
President
Rabbi Dr. Josh Joseph
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer