P.T.S.D.

On Tuesday night, I attended an event honouring former Hamas hostage, Noa Agramani. It took place at the Gardens Shul which was packed to capacity with a wide range of members of the Cape Town Jewish community. Noa is a softly-spoken, unpretentious young lady who insists she is not a hero. The crowd did not agree. They gave her a standing ovation and one of the hosts of the evening, Rabbi Aharon Zulberg from The Base shul in Johannesburg, stated emphatically that she is a hero. I cannot agree more. Anyone who survived the carnage at the Nova Festival, witnessing the savage murder of so many friends, only to be taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza, must possess great courage, determination and fortitude. Noa spent some eight months in captivity and was rescued by an elite unit of the IDF on the 8^th June 2024. She was reunited with her father, Yaakov and her mother, Liora who was suffering from cancer. Liora passed away shortly after her daughter’s rescue. Noa’s boyfriend, Avintan Or, is still being held hostage by Hamas. At the event, Noa spoke briefly about her ordeal, describing her months in captivity as a living nightmare during which she was deprived of adequate food, proper sanitation and the ability to go outside. She stressed that the soldiers who rescued her were true heroes. Noa is in South Africa with several other survivors of 7 October as a guest of The Base shul and the local chapter of the JNF. She and her colleagues are here for a period of much needed rest and respite.

During Noa’s address, I pondered whether the event was for the audience or for her. I assume many people there knew her story. The video of Hamas terrorists taking Noa to Gaza on a motorbike was an iconic image from 7 October. It was spread all over social media, as was the footage from her rescue which was filmed by the special IDF unit that carried out the daring operation. There is a Wikipedia page dedicated to her kidnap and rescue. I, and all the others present, could have read of her ordeal in detail on the internet. Her actual talk was quite short and a good part of the evening was taken up with introductions and thank-you speeches. If so, why were we there? I believe that the event was primarily for Noa and the other survivors. They needed to know that the Jewish world was, and is, rooting for them. They needed to see that they are beloved, appreciated and held in high esteem. This is essential for their mental health and the well-being of the other survivors, their families and the families of those still being held hostage. Tomer, a Nova survivor who also spoke at the event, mentioned that, sadly, one of his fellow survivors, Shirel Golan, took her life on 20 October 2024 which was her 22^nd birthday. Her family blamed the government for not providing adequate support for Shirel and others who are suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Events such as these are cathartic for survivors of enormous trauma and can possibly be the difference between choosing to live or die.

Consider the narrative in our parsha of the war between the four kings from the east and the five kings from the Jordan valley (Bereishit chapter 4). During a major battle, the four kings defeat the king of Sodom and ransack his town. They take Lot, Avraham’s nephew, captive and ride northwards. Avraham learns of Lot’s plight and immediately musters a small army of 318 men and chases the captors for some distance to the north of Damascus. He defeats the aggressors, rescues Lot and retrieves the property that was taken from Sodom. When he returns to the Jordan valley, he is given a hero’s welcome. The king of Sodom comes out to meet him, as does Malki-Tzedek, the king of Shalem, who offers Avraham bread and wine before blessing him. The king of Sodom tells Avraham to take much of the rescued loot but Avraham refuses to take anything other than what his three allies, Aner, Eshkol and Mamre are entitled to. That’s where the story ends. Everyone parts ways and goes home. In modern terms, we would say that Avraham has just experienced a traumatic episode. His nephew, with whom he shared a very close bond, had been captured.  He had just fought a difficult battle after travelling hundreds of kilometres from his home in Hebron. He must have been exhausted and shaken upon his return. And to top it all, he had killed many people. It is precisely at this moment that Hashem appears to him (Bereishit 15:1): “After these events, the word of Hashem came to Avram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Avram, I am a shield for you, your reward is great.”   Rashi notes that Avraham (or Avram, as he was known then) was worried about the men he had killed. They may have been enemies but they were also human beings with families. Moreover, he thought that perhaps his miraculous victory meant that all of the reward God had promised him on the eve of his departure for Canaan had been used up. God reassured him that this was not the case. He should not be worried about the men he killed nor should he be concerned that his reward was depleted. This might be the very first recorded example of post-trauma counselling. We can only imagine how elated Avraham must have felt after God appeared to him! There can be no greater reassurance that a person has done the right thing than to be told so by God!

Alas, for many survivors of traumatic events there has been very little support. After the Holocaust, most survivors had to get back on their feet with very little assistance. They were not given opportunities to share their pain and recount their stories. As much as it shocks us to hear this, survivors of the concentration camps who went to Israel were often looked down upon and called ‘sabon’, soap, a reference to the practice of Nazis to turn human fat into soap. Former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau writes this in his memoir Out Of The Depths. A child of Holocaust survivors told me that her parents were never included in social activities. The turning point was the Eichmann Trial, when survivors shared their tales publicly and were finally able to get some form of closure. My grandfather Marcus Grusd, of blessed memory, was also a survivor of enormous trauma. He was a pilot for the Royal Air Force in WWII. He flew many missions and killed enemy soldiers. He was shot down by the Germans and held in a prisoner of war camp for several months. When he came home to his wife and daughter (my mother, who was born while he was in the POW camp), he received no counselling whatsoever. He was shell-shocked but had no outlet for his feelings. He became very introverted and struggled in social settings. He was a clever man and a hard worker (he was a mining engineer) but emotionally he was crushed. I sincerely believe that had my grandfather been given the opportunity to share his experiences and had he been shown love and appreciation by the community, he would have been a different person.

The events of the 7^th October and the ensuing war in Gaza and the north have left thousands of people with serious trauma. These include the relatives of the victims; the hostages; the displaced families; the soldiers and the average citizens of Israel who have to run for cover every time a siren is heard. All of these people are going to need help and support. There is healing after trauma and events like those on Tuesday night are great ways to demonstrate to those who have suffered that they are not being ignored and that there are people who care for them, and opportunities for them to offload their pain.

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom. 

Rabbi Liebenberg

Rabbi’s YouTube message for Shabbat: https://youtu.be/0nwI2wThAgM?si=DwvmzvHs6vV68MJY