Yearning for modern Exodus: Israel marks another Passover awaiting hostages’ return

NAHAL OZ (AP) — Relatives of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza say they feel the absence of their loved ones acutely during Passover, which commemorates the Exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt and their liberation from slavery.

Jews around the world will mark the beginning of the weeklong holiday Saturday night, gathering for a ceremony and meal called a Seder that features symbolic foods and rituals to help recount a biblical story about bitter times, a flight from tyranny and, eventually, freedom.

The second Passover since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza, stirs up a mix of complicated emotions for Israelis and Jews, especially for those whose family members are among the 59 still in captivity in Gaza.

Last year, many families left an empty seat at their Seder tables to remember those killed or taken hostage on October 7.

A Seder without ‘Daddy Omri’

Lishay Miran Lavi recalls Passover two years ago as if it were a different life. In 2023, Passover fell four days after she gave birth to her second daughter, Alma. “We were a full family then, two parents, two daughters,” she said.

Her husband Omri Miran, who turned 48 on Friday, is one of the 24 hostages in Gaza still believed to be alive.

Alma was six months old when Hamas terrorists burst into their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, forcing Lishay, Omri, Alma and their then 2-year-old daughter, Roni, into their neighbors’ home. Terrorists, who had just killed their neighbors’ 18-year-old daughter, broadcast a Facebook livestream of everyone being held hostage in the kitchen, before kidnapping the fathers, Omri and Tsachi Idan, to Gaza. Idan’s body was returned to Israel in February, during the last hostage exchange.

April brings a host of difficult days for the Miran family: Alma’s second birthday, Omri’s birthday, and the Passover holiday. They mark all the milestones because Miran Lavi wants her daughters to experience some joy. But each time the family gathers to blow out the candles on a birthday cake or sing songs during their Passover meal, it only sharpens Omri’s absence.

Each night before bed, Roni leads Alma in wishing their father goodnight, telling him what they did that day, what they learned at kindergarten and the things they want to do with Omri when he comes home. Alma, who knows Omri only through photos and videos, doesn’t really understand what a father is, Miran Lavi said.

“She knows that she had a father who is named Omri, and she calls him Daddy Omri,” she said.

The recent ceasefire and hostage release deal lasted from mid-January to March, and saw Hamas release 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — as well as the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives.

Fighting resumed on March 18, after Israel and Hamas reached an impasse as to how to proceed with the deal. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 18-month-old war sparked by the October 7 onslaught, although the figure cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Miran Lavi says she was shocked, then furious, when the ceasefire broke down last month. She can’t help but think about how if the ceasefire and the hostage releases had continued, Omri would have been home by now.

Watching the return of other male hostages, emaciated and pale, Miran Lavi is terrified about her husband’s condition. Recently released hostages said they had seen Omri in captivity, but Miran Lavi has no details about his current condition. “I know this is the time Omri needs to come out,” she said.

Too painful to celebrate

Viki Cohen says her family has not marked any Jewish holidays since her 20-year-old son, Nimrod, a soldier, was taken by terrorists from his tank in southern Israel.

“We don’t gather as a family, because it reminds us how much he is missing, and that he’s not with us, and it’s very hard for us,” she said. The only time the extended family gathers is at protests.

But Cohen found a way this year to help keep the hostages’ memories alive during Passover. She illustrated a children’s Haggadah, the text laying out the rituals and story recited during the Seder.

She sprinkled colorful references to the hostages throughout the Haggadah to help spark discussions about them — a scorpion for Ohad Yahalomi, who loved the desert; a bushy mustache for Shlomo Mansour; cactuses lovingly tended by Oded Lifshitz; Batman symbols for Ariel Bibas; and a Rubik’s cube for her son, who was obsessed with the puzzle and left one behind in his tank on the day he was abducted.

Cohen says her heart clenches when she sees other families gathering for Passover or taking trips abroad. She worries that as time passes, Israelis are beginning to normalize the unresolved hostage crisis.

“People are returning to their lives, but what about us?” said Cohen, who is opposed to Israel’s decision to halt humanitarian aid to Gaza because it hurts both hostages and Palestinians.

She encouraged everyone attending a Passover meal around the world to “adopt” one hostage to talk about during their gathering, and to ask themselves what they can do to pressure the Israeli government to reach a deal to free the remaining hostages.

After captivity, some are back in Israel for this year’s Seder

Last year, many families of hostages couldn’t imagine marking the holiday, explained Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose daughter, Romi, had been in captivity and was released in January after 15 months in Gaza.

“Her absence was so strong, even just sitting around the table, not to hear her voice, her laughter, it was unimaginable and impossible,” she said.

This year, the family is reunited but painfully aware of the thousands of homes across Israel where families are grappling with the absence of someone killed in the war, or others who were wounded or are still serving in the reserves, Leshem Gonen said.

She hopes the holiday can encourage more unity within Israel.

“It’s a holiday about liberation and working together, and a nation’s strength when they work together,” she said.

Netanyahu’s Passover message

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also noted, in a Passover video message issued on Friday, that the families of the hostages and fallen, as well as seriously injured soldiers, would be marking the festival with “empty chairs.”

“But from this void, the clear voice of our fallen heroes rises like the last message of the late Elkana Vizel, who wrote to his family: ‘Do not be sad when you say goodbye to me. Sing and strengthen each other, because we are the generation of redemption,” Netanyahu said.

“We are the generation of revival, the generation of victory,” the premier added. “Together we will return our hostages, together we will defeat our enemies, together we will embrace the injured, and together we will bow our heads to remember the fallen.”

“On October 7, there were those who believed we would drown in the sea by the enemy armies. But not only did we not drown, we stood as one, and with a strong and outstretched hand we broke the axis of evil,” he asserted.

“The entire world looks on in amazement at our ancient people, who time and again prevail over those who seek to kill us,” Netanyahu continued, adding that both God and a fighting spirit saved the Jewish people throughout the generations.

It is traditional for families retelling the Passover story to find ways to make it relevant to today — a task that has extra meaning for Michael Levy, whose 34-year-old brother, Or Levy, was released from captivity in February.

“This is the Exodus from Egypt for the modern days,” he said.

ToI staff contributed to this article.