When you can’t sleep, there has to be a reason, right? Tonight, I could not sleep. I guess the body is getting rid of this flu.
And we all know that two hostages were rescued.
So, I am sure all the pundits on Substack and elsewhere will put in their two cents. I am sure the erudite wordsmiths on both sides will spin it the way they want.
I think it is time for a breath of joy and a moment to reflect. No smart, erudite comments from me. Just a deep breath of a little happiness.
Here is a quote that fans of LOTR will all recognize:1
‘The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.’
Read the post until the end to discover why I quoted Lord Of The Rings.
So a quick post because we all deserve the joy of this.
Watch this video!
From The Times Of Israel:
Click that link! There is a 3-minute video of the release in Gaza and what the elite units did to release them.
Footage released Monday evening showed parts of the rescue of two Israeli hostages from a building in Gaza, though Israel’s defense minister cautioned that such daring extractions should not be counted on to free the 134 captives still held in the Strip.
The video, published by the Israel Defense Forces, showed special forces coming under fire in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit accompanying Fernando Marman, 61, and Louis Har, 70, to a makeshift helipad to escape the Strip.
The long-planned rescue, only the second time that Israel has managed to successfully free captives by force since October 7, came as a rare bright spot after four months of war that has seen troops sweep through a devastated Gaza, but largely fail to bring the Hamas terror group to its knees, with pressure growing daily for an end to the fighting.
Footage released Monday evening showed parts of the rescue of two Israeli hostages from a building in Gaza, though Israel’s defense minister cautioned that such daring extractions should not be counted on to free the 134 captives still held in the Strip.
The video, published by the Israel Defense Forces, showed special forces coming under fire in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit accompanying Fernando Marman, 61, and Louis Har, 70, to a makeshift helipad to escape the Strip.
The long-planned rescue, only the second time that Israel has managed to successfully free captives by force since October 7, came as a rare bright spot after four months of war that has seen troops sweep through a devastated Gaza, but largely fail to bring the Hamas terror group to its knees, with pressure growing daily for an end to the fighting.
Marman and Har were both abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on the morning of October 7, among 253 hostages kidnapped, as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists from Gaza stormed through southern Israel, massacring some 1,200 people and carrying out other atrocities against mostly civilian victims.
“The diamonds are in our hands,” a member of the special forces can be heard calling over the radio in the footage released Monday.
The call came at 1:50 a.m., approximately one minute after members of the Shin Bet security agency and police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit used explosives to breach a second-floor apartment where the pair were being held and killed three terrorists guarding them.
“The hostages are in our hands. There is gunfire against the force,” an officer can also be heard saying over the radio.
The Haaretz newspaper quoted a commander from the elite Yamam unit as saying that the two hostages were taken out of the building using ropes to avoid detection on the street outside.
Israel woke up on Monday to a rare bit of good news: Two Israeli hostages – 70-year-old Louis Norberto Har and 60-year-old Fernando Marman – have been safely returned to their families. They were recovered from an apartment building in the Rafah refugee camp by Israeli forces, in an operation that sounds fit for Hollywood.
So what and why is the quote from Lord Of The Rings?
Let us look at it once again.
‘The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.’
At the beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic saga, ‘The Lord of The Rings’, Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist from the prequel ‘The Hobbit,’ leaves the Shire to embark upon his final trip to Rivendell, the home of the Elves. As he sets out upon his last adventure, singing to himself his self-composed song ‘The Road Goes Ever On and On,’ Bilbo bequeaths his home and a potent, terrifying, and ominous legacy to his nephew Frodo — ‘one ring to rule them all.’ Although Bilbo shows enormous strength of will by giving up possession of the ring, he fails to warn his nephew of the dangers inherent in the ring’s power. Indeed, not even Gandalf, the great magician and seer, feels capable of warning Frodo of the dangers ahead.
Like Bilbo setting out with no idea of the path ahead — only his desired destination, Israel is upon a road of difficult discovery and revelations.
Some travelers are destined to arrive in Rivendell; others will follow Frodo’s path and embark on a journey towards unimagined power — at a price many may be unwilling to pay.
Where does this road lead? What will the signposts along the way disclose? When will the destination reveal itself with precision and clarity? In answer, Bilbo’s soft, haunting whisper echoes through the expanse of the universe:
‘And whither then? I cannot say.’
But for now, at least, we are on the journey. We cannot say when it will end or what power the ring may offer us. We can do nothing but hope and pray more and more hostages are brought home.
We must learn the path, understand the Journey, and enjoy the release.
Tomorrow, we can argue yet again. For now, just for a moment, let us thank whatever or whomever we believe in for the moment of happiness that was granted.
Sharing your joy Ted! May you find some rest.
thank "whoever"?
3 out of 3 suggest: thank god...