At the beginning of Parashat Vaeira, God appears to Moses having now heard the moaning of the Israelites over their bondage in Egypt. God promises Moses to fulfill the covenant established with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The language God uses in describing the upcoming liberation of the Israelites contains a series of five verbs:

וְהֽוֹצֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם מִתַּחַת סִבְלֹת מִצְרַיִם וְהִצַּלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מֵֽעֲבֹֽדָתָם וְגָֽאַלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בִּזְרוֹעַ נְטוּיָה וּבִשְׁפָטִים גְּדֹלִֽים: וְלָֽקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם לִי לְעָם...וְהֵֽבֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם אֶל־הָאָרֶץ

I will free you from the labours of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be my people…I will bring you into the land… (Exodus 6:6-8).

 According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Pes. 10:1), the first four of these phrases of redemption are one source for the four cups of wine that we use at the Passover Seder. They each represent a different stage the Israelites will encounter in their journey from slavery to freedom. We imagine God saying the following: “I will free you” from physical enslavement in Egypt; I will “deliver you” from the psychological mind-set of being a slave, which might persist even after you  have been physically liberated; “I will redeem you” so that you will think of yourselves as free people; and “I will take you” into a special relationship with Me, for that is the ultimate goal of your liberation. Finally, “I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham.”

The fifth phrase that God relates to Moses, “I will bring you into the land” is the basis for having a fifth cup on the Seder table reserved for Elijah the prophet. Only when the Israelites have their own land can they become the special people they are summoned to be. In the biblical context, the promise of a land of their own is the ultimate promise to the people of Israel; the threat of being cast out of that land is the ultimate punishment. It is not enough to remove the burden of slavery; the Israelites must also have the proper circumstances that will permit them to flourish as God’s people.

I could not help but think of the above biblical verses given the events of the past week with the release of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, and Emily Damari. Though we rejoice in their release, one can only imagine the psychological and emotional scars that these hostages must bear even after they are physically liberated. Since October 7, over 250 Jews experienced their own personal Mitzrayim within the confines of Gaza. They were forcibly dragged out of their homeland by a brutal gang of terrorists. The path to the redemption of the remaining hostages now depends on three phases. This three-phase agreement covers a span of six weeks and includes the release of 33 hostages, including 12 women and children, men ages 50 and above, and injured civilians. The remaining 65 hostages will only be freed if the sides can agree on a second phase for the truce. These negotiations will begin approximately two weeks into the halt in the fighting. The third phase would see the return of remaining hostages' bodies in exchange for a Gaza reconstruction plan.

In the weeks and months to come as we maintain hope that the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold and that more hostages will be released, we pray that those who have suffered in modern bondage will somehow find the strength to navigate their emotional trauma on the path to psychological liberation. Though we solemnly recognize that some of them will not be coming home alive, they all deserve the right to be in the land that God promised to Abraham. May the phrases and phases of redemption that the Israelites of old experienced come to deliver our current brothers and sisters too. May it be God’s will. Shabbat Shalom.