Nearly a year after he was held in the dark tunnels of Hamas in Gaza, and after he managed in the final moments of Sukkos last year to fulfill the mitzvah of the arba minim, just hours after his release, former hostage Yosef Chaim Ohana has released a video ahead of Sukkos 5785 with a call to the public.
This year, unlike last year, Ohana stands as a free man and purchased the arba minim for the chag himself, using the moment to deliver a clear message about the importance of unity among the Jewish people.
In a moving video released alongside his father, Ohana recalled the wrenching moments he experienced last year: "Last year, at exactly this time, when my father bought a lulav for me, I was still in the tunnels of Gaza, in the tunnels of Hamas. But half an hour before the end of the chag, I merited to bentch on the lulav."
He continued: "This year, what's special? It's not just that I will merit to bentch, but this is a lulav that I purchased, and when I do this mitzvah I think about one thing: just as everything here is held together, and we take it and bring it close to the heart, I take this for unity. Each one of us is different, like each of the minim here is different, one with taste, one with smell, one without taste and without smell, but they are together," Ohana said as he held the arba minim.
In his closing words, he directed a personal and moving call to the broader public in Israel: "I want to ask you, Am Yisrael, now when you daven and you prepare these arba minim, have in mind that same thing, the unity that we need. And with Hashem's help, I wish for us, in the merit of such unity, that we should merit true freedom, geulah, and peace of mind. Amen, kein yehi ratzon."
