This week has been intensely emotional.
The last hostage, Ran Gvili was returned home to be interred in Israel.
Ran was a 24 year old police officer who exhibited extraordinary bravery on October 7, saving the lives of many, neutralizing 14 terrorists before being severely wounded and then abducted into Gaza.
His extraordinary mother Tali said Ran was the first in and the last out.
His body was recovered in a massive military operation code named Operation Brave Heart, which involved hundreds of soldiers, reservists and dentists who were using their expertise to identify Ran’s body.
Hundreds of dead bodies needed to be examined.
Dan was the 250th to be examined and then identified.
There are so many details that surround this story and make it otherworldly.
In Hebrew each letter has a numerical value. If you calculate the value of the letters in Ran’s name those letters equal 250.
As the new broke the media was replete with images of hardened soldiers, covered in their weapons, burying their faces in their hands and weeping openly.
After the operation was concluded soldiers prayed, recited Psalms, sang the age old song of Jewish faith “Ani Maamin, I believe. While commanders quoted verses from this week’s Torah portion.
Why were they reading from our Parsha?
Because this week’s story is an echo of another event that took place thousands of years ago and is reported in the Portion.
The portion narrated that as the Jewish people are preparing to leave Egypt after centuries of oppression and persecution, Moses, their leader, is focused on one task.
He is searching for the bones of Joseph. Joseph had asked for a promise as he was dying. He requested that his bones go out of Egypt with the Jewish nation when they are redeemed.
Where were these holy bones? Why did they need to be searched for and found?
They had been submerged in the Nile river by the Egyptians who viewed Joseph as a good talisman who would protect their precious Nile river, the source of their sustenance.
In the present day, there is a holy covenant between the IDF and her soldiers-no one will be left behind. No matter what it takes, every soldier, dead or alive, will be brought home.
Perhaps this is rooted in the retrieval of the bones of Joseph who was also the first of his family taken hostage to Egypt and now becomes the last to leave.
Sound familiar?
Moses did not know where to find Joseph’s coffin. Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi highlights the parallels of searching and finding Joseph’s body with the hunt and unearthing of Ran’s.
She posits that behind both of these retrievals stands a woman, who waits patiently for the child to return.
In the case of Joseph it was his niece, Serach, the daughter of Joseph’s brother Asher, who knew the secret of Joseph’s burial place. She was the keeper of secrets in that generation. When Moses initially appeared on the scene and announced he was the Redeemer, the people turned to Serach to understand if he was a fraud.
Serach asked about the words this Moses used to introduce himself and was told Moses uttered the words
“Pakod pakadti, I have surely remembered you”.
These were the right words!! These were the code words by which the redeemer sent by Gd would reveal himself.
Gd was informing the Jewish people he had not forgotten them in their suffering and he would bring them back to the land.
Serach affirmed the veracity of Moses claim.
This is the same Serach
who waited 22 years while Joseph was incarcerated and held hostage in Egypt. When he was released it was Serach who was tasked to share the knews with the bereaved father Jacob, using her soft words and musical talent to weave the words of salvation into a song so that Jacob would not be shocked and perhaps mortally traumatized by this news.

Rabbanit Mizrachi compares the mother of Ran to Serach. She too had to wait these long years to retrieve her child. Rabbanit Yemima describes Tali Gvili. She says Tali is a regal woman. During these awful years she was goaded by the media to rant and rave against the bureaucracy that did not save her son. Tali demurred. She maintained a level of regal restraint, speaking only loving, positive words. Even when people told her that this methodology was not in the best interest of her son as they posited she needed to be an angrier advocate. Tali would not acquiesce to those tactics.
Tali said that was not her son’s way. Despite being a warrior for Israel he was known to be man of deep kindness love and peace.
This week’s portion begins with the repitition of the code words Pakod Pakadati that Joseph invoked when he made Moses promise that when the redemption comes, his bones should be returned to the Land of Israel.
This week a circle closed.
Tali Gvili told her son at his funeral that he died for a nation who was worthy of his sacrifice.
The war was fought to bring all our children home.
Hadas Lewinsturn is the widow of Elisha who fell in Gaza in the mortal battle to bring his brethren home.
Rabbanit Yemima speaks of Hadas and says lovingly about her that she is the mistress of much wisdom translated through many words.
But after Ran was returned she only said two words
“Thank you Elisha”. (In Hebrew Toda Elisha). It is his sacrifice that brought them all home.
We all have to thank the brave soldiers amongst them Ran who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.
For the first time in over a decade there are no hostages in Gaza.
While I was listening to some of the emotional transmissions that were recorded as the news came through of Ran’s discovery I heard some words being said in Hebrew that I didn’t understand.
In the beginning of the transmission it sounded like the commander who was emotionally speaking said the words:
“Kod, Kod”
I asked my brother in law who is in the IDF what those words mean.
This is what he sent me:
When someone begins a radio transmission by saying “Code, code”, it is a verbal flag indicating that a coded, sensitive, or restricted message is about to follow.
Meaning in practice:
The speaker is alerting all listeners that the next information is not routine traffic.
It usually precedes pre-arranged code words, code phrases, or classified references rather than plain language.
It signals listeners to pay close attention and may also warn unauthorized listeners that the content will not be understandable.
Typical contexts where this is used:
Military and tactical communications
Law enforcement and emergency services
Security teams and private radio networks
It means the speaker is about to switch to a verbal code system already known to the team.
Example:
“Code, code. Bluebird moving to nest.”
Only those who know the codebook understand the real meaning.
This is only my interpretation but code code or kod, Kod sounds very similar to Pakod, I will remember.
Gd is sending us coded signals all the time, from time immemorial to the present day.
It is up to us to receive transmission.
Over and Out!
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!!