OPINION: The smallest nation, the largest family
As hostages return home, Rabbi Benjy Morgan reflects on the unity and shared destiny that bind the Jewish people
Amidst all the excitement, the tears, the singing, and the flags waving in the streets, there was one emotion that rose above the rest. It was something deeper than joy, more enduring than relief. As I watched the hostages come home, along with millions of Jews around the world, I felt something stir that we have not seen for a long time: the unbreakable bond of a single, ancient family.
For a few brief, holy moments, we remembered who we are.
We are not simply a people scattered across continents. We are a family, bound not by bloodlines alone but by destiny. We might be the tiniest nation on earth, but we are, without question, the biggest family. When those hostages returned, they were not strangers. They were ours. Every face was familiar. Every embrace was personal. And every tear felt like it belonged to all of us.
There is something profoundly moving about that kind of unity. It cannot be organised or choreographed. It comes from deep within the Jewish soul, from somewhere older than memory itself. It is the echo of Sinai, where we stood together as one people with one heart.
But now, as the world moves on, we must ask ourselves: what happens next? It is finally 8 October. The headlines will fade, the flags will be folded away, and the noise will quiet. Yet the feeling that was revealed in those moments, that instinctive, unconditional love for one another, must not be packed away with it.
Because those hostages were not heroes or celebrities. They were simple Jews. Young and old, religious and secular, Israeli and Diaspora. And yet we all felt as one. That is our true strength. Not in our numbers or power, but in our connection to one another.
If we can carry that same sense of belonging into our daily lives, in the way we greet a fellow Jew, speak about one another, and care for each other, then something extraordinary will have been born out of the pain of these times.
We have always been the smallest nation, but when we live as one family, we become infinite.
That, amidst all the excitement, is the emotion I will never forget.
- Rabbi Benjy Morgan is chief executive of the JLE
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