Surfside victims and the Hamas hostages: the sacred act of bringing them home | Opinion

We thank God for the miracles of survival — and we pray that every one of the 28 remaining hostages who were killed will finally be brought home.

We’ve all seen the joy of the 20 families whose loved ones were released — and thank God for that joy. But it’s not just joy — it’s miracles. Miracles that these men survived under the brutal conditions of Hamas captivity and made it back alive.

We thank God for these miracles, for life preserved against all odds, for families reunited after so much pain.

But I also want to speak about the 28 remaining hostages who were killed — who are coming back home, not alive, but home.

Some might wonder: What’s the difference?

But I can tell you, having seen it firsthand during the Surfside building collapse, it’s a very different picture. I was serving as a chaplain then, and I remember sitting in the room when families received that call: Come together, we have news. I sat with them as they were told their loved one had been found.

That tragedy occurred in the early hours of June 24, 2021, when a section of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium on 87th Street and Collins Avenue inexplicably collapsed as many of the residents slept, resulting in the loss of 98 lives, with more than 30 of the victims believed to be Jewish.

It’s hard to describe. It was both heartbreaking and comforting to be with the victims’ loved ones, waiting for news. You could feel the pain but also a deep relief, a quiet calm, as if they could finally breathe again. It didn’t erase the grief, but it allowed them to begin healing.

That’s what I think about now, as some of our loved ones are being brought home from Gaza. It’s not joy, but it is holiness.

In Judaism, we believe the body itself is sacred. To bring them back to the holy soil of Israel, to rest with their people — that, too, is sacred.

It’s heartbreaking, but it’s holy.

And yet, even that holiness has been delayed. Of the 28 remaining hostages who were killed, only four bodies were scheduled to be returned today, far fewer than what was agreed upon.

I pray that all parties involved in these negotiations — on every side — will now allow this to be.

Let every one of the 28 be brought home, to give their families the dignity, closure and holiness they deserve.

Rabbi Yossi Harlig is the executive director and spiritual leader of Chabad of Kendall/Pinecrest and the Friendship Campus. He served as a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office chaplain during the Surfside building collapse.

This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 4:53 PM.