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A Bisl Torah – Beshalach: From One War to Another

Ran Gvili鈥檚 homecoming is a saga closed and a promise fulfilled.
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January 29, 2026
Police officers attend the funeral of Police officer Ran Guili, after his body was recovered by Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip on January 28, 2026 in Meitar, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Rabbi Guzik is on sabbatical. Please enjoy A Bisl Torah from our Rabbinic Intern, Moe Howard.

This past Monday marked the end of what has felt like an era, as the body of slain hostage Ran Gvili was finally brought back to Israel for proper burial after more than two years of waiting, praying, and protesting.

Though this moment ought to have come much sooner, its arrival seems as if predestined. For it is in this week鈥檚 Torah portion that we read of a momentous era鈥檚 end marked by as momentous a return:

鈥淎nd Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying, 鈥楪od will be sure to take notice of you: then you shall carry up my bones from here with you.鈥欌 (Exodus 13:19)

Joseph was first to be brought into Egypt, sold by his brothers into slavery against his will. Now he is last to be brought out, redeemed by his descendants鈥 generations hence. His homecoming, while not yet complete, is the closure of a saga and the fulfillment of a dual promise: that God does not abandon His people, and that they do not abandon each other.

So too, Ran鈥檚 homecoming is a saga closed and a promise fulfilled. And so too, there remains a journey ahead. With Egypt behind them and Sinai before them, the Israelites face the even greater challenge of redefinition. As former captive Rom Braslavski spoke from the stage of what was once Hostages Square in Tel Aviv: 鈥淲e now go from one war to another war, which will be much more difficult鈥攖he war of rehabilitation.鈥

Together, we will win.

Shabbat Shalom.

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