500 Days in Darkness: The Urgent Cry for the Hostages’ Freedom
After 500 days in Hamas’ terror tunnels, 73 hostages remain trapped in hell. The Jewish people respond with an ancient call to action—fasting, praying, and demanding their immediate release.
It has been 500 days since Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad carried out the most brutal attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It has been 500 days since they infiltrated Israel, murdered 1,200 innocent people—including 44 Americans—wounded 3,300, and kidnapped 251 men, women, children, and elderly into the abyss of Gaza’s terror tunnels.
Today, 73 hostages remain in captivity. For 500 days, they have been held in what can only be described as hell on earth—underground dungeons, starved, beaten, tortured, and deprived of the most basic human dignity. We know from those who have been released that they have endured constant terror, isolation, and the cruelest forms of psychological and physical abuse. Their families wake up every day in unbearable agony, wondering if their loved ones are still alive.
To mark this horrific milestone, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has called for a public fast day—an ancient Jewish practice that carries deep historical and spiritual significance. Tomorrow, Monday, February 17, we will observe a day of fasting lasting 500 minutes, from 11:40 AM until 8:00 PM, or alternatively, from sunrise to sunset. This fast is a collective call for justice, action, and the urgent return of the hostages. It is more than just a moment of reflection; it is a demand for their freedom.
Fasting in Judaism: A Cry for Divine and Human Action
Public fasts in Judaism have always been more than an act of personal repentance; they are a collective cry—a demand for change, for justice, and for divine intervention in times of crisis.
The Torah mandates fast days in response to national calamities. The prophet Joel commands: "Blow a horn in Zion, Solemnize a fast, Proclaim an assembly!" (Joel 2:15). In the Talmud, fasting is prescribed when the community is in distress—whether due to war, famine, or persecution (Taanit 12b).
Throughout Jewish history, our people have fasted to commemorate tragedy and demand redemption. The fast of Tisha B’Av mourns the destruction of the Temples. The Fast of Esther recalls the existential threat to the Jewish people in Persia. Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, is a day of communal reflection and atonement.
But this fast is different. It is not about history; it is about the living—those who are still suffering. It is a cry of "Ad matai?"—How much longer? How much more will the world allow?
The Significance of 500 in Judaism
The number 500 carries profound meaning in Jewish tradition.
Completion and Transformation – In Kabbalah, 500 represents the transition between worlds, between darkness and light, exile and redemption. It is a number associated with divine intervention and miracles, as seen in the mystical interpretations of the 500 gates of understanding in Jewish thought.
Multiples of Five: Strength in Unity – The number five is central in Judaism: the Five Books of Torah, the five levels of the soul, or the five fingers on a hand symbolizing action. A hundredfold of this represents a communal force—a call to gather in unity.
A Measure of Time and Endurance – The Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a) speaks of 500-year cycles in the world’s spiritual history. Today, these 500 days mark not just a tragic milestone, but a turning point—a moment when our cries must become deafening.
We Cannot Be Silent
For 500 days, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used human beings as bargaining chips, desecrating every law of morality and humanity. And for 500 days, the world has not done enough.
This fast is not just a ritual—it is a weapon of the soul. It is an act of defiance against those who wish to break us. It is a refusal to accept the unbearable silence.
Our tradition teaches that when Moshe fasted, he pleaded for the lives of the people. When Esther fasted, she turned the fate of the Jewish people. When we fast now, we are making a statement: We will not forget. We will not stop. We will not rest until the last hostage comes home.
This is not just a moment of mourning. It is a call to action.
On this 500th day, we fast, we pray, and we demand: Bring them home now.