100..200..300

Today is Day 199. Tomorrow is the first day of Passover, Day 200. It is believed that 129 of the 253 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — “not all of them alive”. “About a 100”, they say.

Round numbers. I remember the grimness of the death of the 100th child in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; it took less than a month of war. I remember how the Russian military jargon of “Cargo 200” (transportation of soldier’s bodies, also a title of a cult Russian film) from the Soviet-Afgan war was resurrected for the XXI century. A few days ago, on April 13th, “over 300” ballistic missiles, drones, and cruise missiles were launched at Israel by Iran.

The dead children count in Ukraine at the end of February, 2024, stood at the not-so-round 587, with 1298 injured. Far more obscure Cargo 300 (injured), Cargo 500 (refusing to serve) are now also familiar to those who follow the news from the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022, in its not-so-round 789th day today.

Round numbers. They bring a certain sense of closure, of some important marker of time, of life lived. Except for those “about 100” that are still held hostage, this round marker of 200 days in hell is not bringing any closure. There is no celebration, just marking of another day, life suspended.

Some families will be using a Haggadah sold by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and produced by the print shop at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 90 residents were murdered and 20 taken hostage on October 7. The Haggadah features an essay by Goldberg-Polin and her husband, Jon, that adds a fifth question to the holiday’s traditional four: “Why are our loved ones not sitting at the table with us?”

In Israel, the head of the Tzohar rabbinical organization, Rabbi David Stav, said it was “impossible to celebrate this holiday without calling out to the heavens that the captives should be taken out from the darkness in which they are being held in and into the light of freedom.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-many-israelis-this-passover-celebrating-the-festival-of-freedom-feels-impossible/

As Israel is preparing the Passover Seder tables, there are empty chairs. Let your Seder table have one tonight as well.

Next year, together, in Jerusalem.