Redeeming The Captives

Newsletter October 13, 2025 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

This daily morning blessing in the siddur has new resonance for us today. 

Baruch ata Adonai Eloheynu Melech HaOlam, matir asurim. 

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who sets the captives free!

This morning Israel time, the remaining 20 living hostages were freed, and the ceasefire seems to be holding. 

For many of us, releasing those held captive feels like loosening a knot we have been holding in our hearts for over two years— and for this we express thanks. 

Have you ever noticed how, when a rope untangles, it sometimes reveals the shape of a heart?

 All this time, our healing circle has been heart-centered in our pain and experience of our grief over the past two years. We have felt for the hostages’ isolation, tenuous existence, and meager prospect for a future all of this time. We have been praying week after week for their return, and a diplomatic solution to the hell that they were experiencing. We have held our breath for the past several days, wondering if the deal would actually go through and the hostages would be reunited with their families.

We have been praying for a ceasefire and the awful experience of civilians, especially children in Gaza, and the destruction of whole neighborhoods and generations of families. 

And now a moment of relief. Our hearts loosen like a rope unknotting a little to reveal a heart— our hearts open to the possibility of something new. A future of dignity, possibility, hope, and dare I say, peace. Cautiously. But with hopeful anticipation. 

We recite these words this morning: 

Baruch ata Adonai Eloheynu Melech HaOlam, matir asurim.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who sets the captives free. Amen!

The Jewish custom is to thank God for the literal release of the captives, but this morning, we also thank God for freeing us from fear and horror and trepidation we have experienced these past two years, seeing human dignity violated. We have been freed from the acute worry we have held. And for this, we are grateful.

It is interesting that blessing itself first appeared in the medieval prayer book of Rav Amram Gaon (810-875 CE), the great Jewish leader in Babylonia, who would recite it. In his time, too, ransoming captives was both a literal and spiritual concern because the practice of ransoming captives was a significant issue during his time. And also, presumably, he and other members of the Jewish community back then in the 9th century Sura also held knotted hearts over the situation they faced.

The language of this medieval prayer is much older than even that- it is biblical having originated form the Psalms. In fact, Psalm 146 states:

Ashrei She’El Ya’akov B’ezro Siv’ro al Adonai Elohav...Oseh mishpat la’asukim notein lechem la’reivim Adonai matir asurim. 

Happy is the one who has the help of the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord God…who secures justice for those who are wronged, gives food to the hungry; Adonai sets prisoners free. 

The pain and fear we held for those held captive is as old as the generations, biblical, medieval, modern. But, so too is the joy we feel at their release. 

In another synergistic coincidence, this week, Jewish communities around the world are commanded to rewind the Torah and start anew. The Torah portion for this week is Parashat Bereishit— and we begin with the reading of Genesis. This is the book that begins in chaos and then recounts the order set forth in the world through creation. 

This week, we dare to allow hope for the possibility of a new creation, a new future, in the Middle East and hope that all those who were formerly held captive, both literally and figuratively, will be permanently freed, released from all suffering. We make space for hope at a better future moving from chaos to order. Please join us for a zoom gathering briefly at 4pm PT/7pm ET to say this blessing together and uplift our best prayers for the future. Register HERE. This is how we are keeping it sacred. May it be so. 

Together, we’re #keepingitsacred...

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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