Emily Damari is a giant. A rock star. A Maccabee.
Today (at least one of) Israel’s newspapers featured the image Emily posted on her Instagram account, which she titled: I’m back ??
In the photo, she’s sitting on a couch outside her destroyed home in Kfar Azza. The contrast between Emily, alive and victorious, outside the evidence of the horror she survived (including the sign on the building advocating for her return) is mind-boggling.
Very quickly after her liberation, Emily’s powerful personality turned her maimed hand into a symbol of courage and boundless life. Although the monsters shot off two of her fingers and did not give her medical care, she survived and when she was liberated, she showed us that hand raised in victory, showing us all what courage and triumph look like.
We saw her on the day of her liberation, knowing the Nation would see her, walking through the hospital, wrapped in the flag like a champion.
It was only later that we learned that Emily asked her captors to leave her in their prison and release Keith Siegel instead. Keith is the father of her childhood friend Shir, and Emily knew that his health was worse than hers.
How many of us would have the courage to say to murderers and rapists: “Free him. Take me instead”?
Her captors did not do what she asked and there was no way to know for certain when (or even if) Keith would be released – Hamas could break their word at any moment and they enjoy torturing the Israeli public with the uncertainty of who will be released.
Emily was freed according to the agreement that released women before men. Then 4 female soldiers were released. Then Agam Berger, the last female soldier held, was released with Arbel Yahud and Gadi Moses.
And then Keith Siegel was released (along with Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon).
Shir Siegel watched her father, Keith Siegel, being released with Emily by her side. She posted:
“In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think my sister [Emily] would sit with me while we watch my father return home [from Hamas captivity in Gaza].”
Our neighbors are monsters. There is no doubt about that.
What I also know for certain is that while other societies seem to be declining into emptiness, with no purpose, leaving them with no role models, only vapid celebrities, I live among giants.
The Maccabees LIVE.
{Reposted from the author’s blog}
