I am a twin. I am one of four siblings.
Gali and Ziv Berman are twins. They are from a family of four siblings. They are still, 545 days after October 7, held hostage in Gaza.
They were kidnapped from their Kibbutz where Keith and Aviva Siegel were also taken hostage. Keith and Aviva, who have since been freed and tonight spoke at my synagogue.
“This is the first time I’ve been in a synagogue since my release …” Keith Siegel said.
He spoke from his heart, though his shoulders slumped and his voice was quiet. Aviva stood at his side. Keith was released after 484 days in captivity. He is 65. Born in California. He watched the twins, Gali and Ziv grow up.
His wife, Aviva speaks as a twin herself. And I cannot imagine if it is worse to be kidnapped with or without your twin. But how can you compare any of these experiences? Keith’s? Aviva’s? Gali and Ziv’s?
Aviva was released after 51 days. Keith was told he would be released the day after. But the next day was 483 days away.
He spoke of verbal and sexual abuse. Of “echoes of suffering that do not fade.” And yet he was in the United States tonight, much more focused on speaking on behalf of those still left behind as hostages rather than mourning his experience or taking the time he so clearly needs to heal.
For 6 months of his captivity, he was underground, alone, pressured to convert to Islam, starved, not sure if his family was alive.
Iair Horn spent 489 days in “hell.” Underground, no air, barely any food or water, no daylight. “Mental torture filled every second.” But Iair speaks not for himself, or his sunken eyes, or his slouching shoulders. He speaks for his younger brother Eitan, whom he was forced to leave behind.
“It was one of the most painful moments of my life… we (my family) are half here and half missing … when one person is taken, the whole family lives in captivity with them.”
Iair also spoke of Passover, only ten days away, when we celebrate freedom and being together. “This year, freedom should not be symbolic, but real for 59 hostages in Gaza.”
What would I do for my siblings if I had to leave them behind in hell? Everything. Just as Iair, and Keith, and Aviva, and the other survivors and family members are doing. Why can’t more people do just a little? Just a little to bring everyone home?
This should always have been about the hostages. Innocent civilians kidnapped and tortured. What could have happened if more people stood up 545 days ago and declared all of this unconscionable and unacceptable? How many lives could have been saved?
How many people still remember, this many days after? How many are willing to stand up now?
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