“Now is the time to advance the national dream of the people of Israel, the fulfillment of divine prophecy and the ultimate redemption of all humanity,” Or said in an address to “The Future of Judea and Samaria” conference in Jerusalem.
She described her son’s return as part of the current ceasefire with Hamas as “a wondrous miracle.” Avinatan, the second of her seven children, was raised in Shiloh—the first capital of ancient Israel—where his family home overlooks the site of the biblical Tabernacle that stood for 369 years. Avinatan drew his strength from that sacred landscape, she said. His Hebrew name, Avinatan Or, means “my father in heaven has given us light.”
Ditza Or belonged to the Tikva Forum, an alternative group to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. Unlike the latter, which demanded a deal to free the hostages immediately, the Tikva Forum argued that the nation’s interest took precedence over their own or those of their family members.
Ditza told JNS that according to halacha, or Jewish law, people in her situation should be kept at a distance from the decision-making process. “First of all, if you have a personal interest, you cannot be objective. You cannot consider the wide picture. It’s something very basic, also in secular law,” she said.
She said that when Jews act according to halacha, God stands with them, adding that this would have been the shortest way to bring her son home.
“We didn’t take the shortest way, that’s for sure. A lot of time was spent because of the Hostages Forum. Their activities were counterproductive. They fought against the government, weakening it during war. That’s not in the interest of the hostages. And I said that from the first day,” she told JNS.
She initially tried arguing with the families in the other group, but the debate only deepened division, with each side growing more entrenched, she said. Over time, she realized arguing was futile. She began to engage only at the emotional level. While no one was convinced, she said she made “great friends” on the political left over the last two years.
However, Ditza’s true companions throughout his ordeal, she explained, were the biblical figures of Jacob and Joseph, the latter of whom was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. “For 22 years, beloved Joseph vanished from home and was swallowed by darkness,” she said. “Now I understand in my own flesh what a nightmare that is.”
“Amazingly,” her son encountered Joseph in captivity, she said. His captors related Bible stories, speaking often of Joseph, whom they called the “righteous one.”
Or offered three reflections from her ordeal. The first was “unity.” She said the hostages’ plight brought people together—“everyone has shared in the profound anguish” and yearned for their return.
Across Israel she witnessed “love, mutual responsibility and a powerful desire to help in every possible way.” Despite a small minority exploiting the issue politically, she said, the vast majority of Israelis “radiated unity and solidarity,” calling it a “profound and moving historical rectification”—a moral healing thousands of years after Joseph’s brothers betrayed him.
Second was the idea of mission. Joseph could have wallowed in self-pity, but instead of seeing himself as “the weak, wretched victim, he chose mission over misery,” she said. He told his brothers God had sent him from them to preserve life. Similarly, the Nova Music Festival participants saved Israel by delaying the “sadistic terrorists,” preventing them from pushing deeper into Israel. “Maps of Ashkelon and even Tel Aviv were found in some of the terrorists’ pockets,” Or noted.
“On a broader scale, the existence of hostages and enemy has provided legitimacy for Israel’s battles across all fronts. This long war has repositioned Israel as a regional power,” she said.
Third was the importance of dreams. Avinatan told his family that he would dream of “hope and freedom and love” and upon waking would try to hold onto the dream for another 10 seconds.
“We, the people of Israel, also have ancient dreams, ever since our conception as a nation, God told us, first in the Torah and later through the prophets: the purpose of our creation is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a light unto the nations,” she said.
“This is the historic moment to ascend to the next level, to move from a covenant of faith, a people bound together by a history of suffering, to a covenant of destiny, a dignified nation building a model society guided by the vision of our Prophets.”
