18:20 IL: Mr. Noam Shalit on Tuesday evening, 20 Tishrei, addressed the media with a statement. He started by pointing out that today, Gilad returned home after 1,942 days outside of their home.
Gilad feels well but he has a few small sores that are the result of inadequate care, wounds from fragments. He is also suffering the effect of minimal exposure to sunlight for such a long period of time. Hence, it is still too difficult for him to face such large numbers of people since he was held in solitary for so many days and years. He was not permitted to communicate with others, not in his language, compelled to use signs to communicate with his captors.
We hope to continue the process of rehabilitation, a process that we hope will be as expeditious as possible, with the assistance of IDF officials towards returning to a normal life.
Today, we feel that we have experienced the birth of a new son. I wish to thank the public, all of you, those gathered here today to support us and greet Gilad with warmth and support, solidarity. I am sorry but Gilad cannot come out, but I would like to thank you all, including the captain of the chopper that transported us home, who flew over our community twice to permit Gilad to see what awaited us, the grand welcome.
We thank the entire public, those who supported and assisted during past years, the activists who escorted us throughout the entire process. We are confident that we will find the proper forum to thank each one of you. Thanks as well to IDF officials that worked to bring this to an end, including the folks at the Tel Nof base for hosting us today.
We also wish to thank the government of Israel, the prime minister, defense minister, and all those who supported it. To our sorrow, this deal was not an easy one and yesterday, when I appeared before the Supreme Court and saw the bereaved families, I too understood the price being paid and the pain they are enduring.
To all of you, including the media, please understand our wishes and permit us to return to a regular life as quickly as possible.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
20 Responses
What about thanks to God?
Feif-
Welcome to Israel, the land built on ignoring G-d’s will and power.
Perhaps Noam was angry that, after the deal was closed, a psak was uttered by a godol saying the deal is against halocho. This was reported in the secular news on the web.
If I were not a committed torah observant Jew, such a pointless psak would turn me against religious practice, and by association with G-d.
I guess he was only thanking the people that this message was addressed to. Maybe he felt that his thanks to G-d was a personal and private matter, and he didn’t necessarily need to share that with the public.
#1 Feif Un:
You just took the words out of my mouth ! Exactly !
What about thanks to Hashem, without Whom Gilad’s release would not have happened?
Let’s not be so quick to condemn.
First of all, the fact is this family does not have a frum background, so it is unfair to expect them to react as a frum family would. It does not mean that in their own way they are not grateful to HKB”H.
Secondly, Gilad and his family have been through a gehenom for the last 5 years that none of us should ever know from, so let’s cut them a whole LOT of slack.
if he would metion Hashem, we would all be sitting here commenting on that he mentioned Hashem.
Hopefully one day he will see the light .
nossonhalevi
Which gadol was against it? Harav Ovadia Shlit”a said to go through with it
yitzchokm, get lost! Who needs your kitrug? Only 10 days after Yom Kippur! How low can you sink?
Which Godol issue a psak, that the deal is against Halacha?
I don’t think Mr. Shalit has to share anything that he finds personal like that to the public. I’m sure he thanks Hashem each and every second that he’s with his son…
Sometimes the comments on this forum make me cringe.
#3 – nossonhalevi – what “Godol” stated such a psak? I did not hear this? The only thing I see in the news is two Mizrachi Rabbis that are known for their extreme right wing political views coming out against the exchange.
Did Rav Elyashiv, Rav Yosef, Rav Wosner, Rav Kanievsky, etc paskin that it was Asur? Not that I heard!
Nosson-
If I weren’t a frum person, being don le’kaff z’ecus, I would assume that your questioning a Godol’s ruling as “pointless”, proves that your not as observant as you claim to be.
Imo, people looking to be “turned off” by Judaism find it very easy to do so without the “help” of the godolim. For those looking for questions there are no answers.
Nosson-
If I weren’t a frum person, being don le’kaff z’ecus, I would assume that your questioning a Godol’s ruling as “pointless”, proves that your not as observant as you claim to be.
Imo, people looking to be “turned off” by Judaism find it very easy to do so without the “help” of our godolim. For those looking for questions there are no answers.
Its very sad that he didn’t mention any thanks to h-shem its equally sad that there was no rush on the part of Gilad to shake a lulav, make a laishaiv b’succa, put on tfillin (if that’s the Shalit minhag) etc etc. But we can’t judge them after all they were fraay before this happened and they remain fraay. May the eibishter who freed gilad from the murderous palestinians also lead him to tshuva. Amen
We are all very happy that with the help of HASHEM, Gilad has come home. We hope and pray for the day that everyone will recognize HASHEM. Not everyone has been fortunate to have a religious upbringing and therefore not everyone fully comprehends who HE is. It is not our place to judge them. There is only one that judges alone, that is HASHEM.
I have heard many Rabanim say and I think that this is universally accepted by all Rabanim that we should look to try to be malamed zechus on Klal Yisroel. I think that by saying that they did not thank HASHEM is not fulfilling this.
How can anyone judge this man after all he and his family have been through? Just be happy that Gilad is home safe and pray to Hashem that no one else ever has to live through this nightmare.
Dovid2-
Do you believe that Israel was built on Emuna’s Hashem? I don’t. And deep down, neither do you.
I’m glad
But why doesn’t he thank hakodosh boruchu first anot at all
I thought about this some more and realized that I have no right to ask that question. Many Rabbonim, including R’ Moshe Feinstein zt”l, the Satmar Rav zt”l, and others, said that many people became non-observant after going through Auschwitz, and we can’t judge them for it.
Gilad Shalit went through his own personal Auschwitz for 5 years. I have no right to judge.
Feif un-
I’m not sure why you’re assuming he didn’t thank G-d just because he didn’t do so in a public message?