THINK: The Faith Of The Tunnels - Reflections On The Religious Experiences Of Returned Hostages

Purim is often described as the festival of finding faith within the darkness. This was our claim in last week's THINK. Yet we do not need to look to ancient Persia 2,500 years ago to discover an instance of Jews recommitting to their faith and their people in the most trying of circumstances - in fact we have experienced it within our very recent lifetimes in the testimonies of many hostages who returned alive from Gaza and describe intense and powerful religious experiences in 'the darkness within the darkness'. This shiur examines the hostages descriptions in their own words and parallels them with classical sources which echo and deepen many of the experiences they describe - and then considers some of the deeper lessons that their experiences provide for us. Source sheet here. And if you would like to contribute to our very meaningful matanot l'evyonim project you can do so here. Mentioned in this class: Shiur on this topic by Rav Elchanan Nir (Hebrew) Yosl Rakover Speaks To God