'You shall choose life'

(JNS) — One of the things that has made the Jewish people so unique and has led to our survival throughout history is the sanctity placed upon human life. In Deuteronomy (Chapter 30, Verse 19), it is written: “I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live.”

That is why the Jewish community has struggled with feelings of ecstacy at the homecoming of the remaining living hostages, who have been held for two years in the most brutal conditions imaginable, coupled with pain at those whose bodies are slowly coming ba...