{"id":78145,"date":"2023-11-24T18:03:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=78145"},"modified":"2023-11-24T18:03:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:03:40","slug":"rav-elations-freeing-the-captives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/rav-elations-freeing-the-captives\/","title":{"rendered":"Rav-Elations!: Freeing the Captives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By RABBI DAVID GERBER<\/p>\n<div>If you&#8217;re anything&nbsp;like me you have been glued to the news over the past 24 hours as Israelis waited with bated breath for the first return of those held hostage in Gaza. I have heard Israelis say that there is really no joy for them, even in the returning of these hostages.<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-38967 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016-350x350.jpg 350w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-38967 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/rabbi_david_gerber_-_talit_2016-350x350.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/div>\n<div>There is still too much fear, anxiety, and uncertainty about the remaining captives as well as the continued existence of Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Despite this reality, we must offer a blessing of thanks for the returning of the hostages and we happen to have such a blessing as part of our morning ritual.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><em>Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam matir asurim<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>Blessed are you, Adonai our God, Sovereign&nbsp;of the Universe, who frees the captive.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>I hope this blessing offers us comfort today and motivation&nbsp;on a daily basis&nbsp;to work until all of our brethren are free.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><em>Rabbi David Gerber is the senior rabbi of the URJ\u2019s Congregation Gates of Prayer (Sha\u2019arai Tefillah) in Metairie.<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Rav-Elations%21%3A%20Freeing%20the%20Captives\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[8790,8795,8788,9520],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78146,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78145\/revisions\/78146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}