May It Be

May it be, our brothers and sisters, that just as you showed strength and courage in the terrible inferno, so may you find the strength to heal upon your return and as you walk the path of recovery. May you be embraced by the tens of thousands of loving hearts that never stopped worrying, hoping, acting, and working for your sake.

May it be that we know how to serve as a support and a source of strength—material, emotionally, and spiritually—for you and your families. May we together weave the thread of the hope for salvation, so that your return will proclaim peace and herald good.

May it be that we preserve this shared home. May we honor the light revealed in the actions of all those who never stopped striving and crying out for your return.

May it be that the memory of those we could not bring back safely, and those who fell in battle, remain with us forever—an eternal flame of pain and hope, of sorrow and consolation.

May it be that just as the captives have returned today, so too will all captives return: the living to their homes and the dead to their resting places in the earth. We will not rest, nor will we be silent, until they find rest and peace.

May the verse be fulfilled through us: “To bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives" (Isaiah 61:1).

English translation: Levi Morrow