On Sunday, as word began to leak out that Edan Alexander, the last remaining American-Israeli hostage who was kidnapped on October 7 and held in captivity for 583 days, was about to be freed, the Jewish world, as well as those who had been following the situation, had a chance to celebrate. What an incredible Mother’s Day gift that must’ve been for Edan’s mom and the rest of his family and friends. I cannot even begin to imagine what that must have felt like.

It was pretty interesting to watch all of this transpire, as the media’s attention was drawn back to the hostages that were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists well over a year and a half ago.

Unfortunately, as time has moved past the immediate days following the October 7 attack, the vast majority of people‘s attention to the crisis and remembering why Israel and Hamas have been at war since then has waned.

As we all know, if you’re not directly impacted by a crisis, over time, you are able to move on and go on with your regular day-to-day life. But for those who have been directly impacted, like Edan and his family and friends, along with the remaining hostages and their families, their lives have been forever changed, and they are unable to return to where they were on October 6. 

In 2022, during our annual Jewish Book Festival, one of our featured authors was Emmy-award-winning NBC news reporter Jan Maxfield. She wrote a book called More After the Break: A Reporter Returns to 10 Unforgettable News Stories. In her book, Maxfield shares her experiences returning to the people she interviewed for news stories well after the cameras left and moved on to the next story. We often forget that their lives continue, forever changed from what happened to them or what they experienced. In the case of Edan, who has only been free for more than 48 hours, how long will our attention remain on his story before we move on?

In a day and age when we are inundated with news and ongoing crises, we can often get lost and forget about the impact and what is happening to those directly affected by a crisis. We are in the midst of a similar situation in our community right now with those directly impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires.

I hope that as the days and weeks go on, and Edan and his family try to get back the time they lost together, attention remains on his story and that the media continues to cover and report on it. I am excited that he is home and now safe, and I am also hopeful that his release will serve as a reminder that both there are still hostages being held by Hamas and their supporters, and that the ongoing war was instigated, provoked, and a direct response to Hamas‘s actions on October 7.