I just watched the recently released clip of former hostage Eliya Cohen returning home by helicopter. As he landed at the hospital in Israel, it felt like another breath of oxygen returning to the nation. For months, Israelis, Jews, and allies around the world had shaken heaven and earth to bring hostages home alive. Diplomacy, advocacy, protests, prayer. Nothing was spared.

We proved something in that moment. When Jewish lives hang in the balance, we mobilize.

But what happens after the helicopters leave?

If the moral engine of the hostage campaign was “bring them home alive,” then we must ask what “alive” truly means. Survival is not only biological. It is psychological. It is communal. It is the ability to wake up without terror flooding the body.

Since October 7, trauma has become a national condition. Survivors of the attacks. Families of victims. Communities uprooted. Reservists returning from Gaza. Soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces who have seen and done things that do........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)