This week, many of us read the news of the ceasefire with immense joy and gratitude. As we pray that the ceasefire is upheld and the hostages are released, one story in particular stands out. One young man taken hostage from the Nova Festival on October 7th was Guy Gilboa Dalal. On October 6th, the eve of that tragic day, he asked his family to wait for his return before taking down the sukkah they had built for the holiday. He never came home, taken mercilessly into Gaza by Hamas.

For two years, his family kept the sukkah standing as a tangible expression of their hope that Guy would return. Weathering wind, rain, and the anguish of two terrible years, they kept their sukkah up in the hope that they could fulfill their promise to take it down together. Now, there is a real possibility that Guy will indeed return home at the end of Sukkot two years later, that he will sit with his family in that same sukkah he left behind when he went to the Nova Festival. That, together, they will finally take it down.

It is a rare and beautiful thing to witness such pure and heartbreaking longing transform into the possibility of fulfillment. The pain his family has endured is unimaginable. To see that sukkah standing each day, a daily reminder of both love and loss, must have been overwhelming. Yet they kept it up. And they kept believing in the possibility of a miracle that he would return. The Jewish people have seen hope turn into miracles before—and God knows this family, and all the families still waiting for their loved ones to return, could use one now. This Sukkot, we wait with bated breath, and pray that such steadfast hope is realized.t, we need help. True repentance is terribly difficult. When faced with what seems to be an impossible uphill battle, why not turn to the one who made us and lay some of the burden there as well? Help me, God, so I can help myself!