Welcome Back Gilat Shalit- It is Great to Have You Back Home Again!

When the flood was over and the water subsided, God told Noach and his family: (Beisheet 8:16) “Depart from the ark, yourself and your wife, your sons, and your son’s wives with you”.

After everything that they had been through it should not be a surprise that Noach and his family were hesitant to return to reality, readjust and start anew.

Before Gilad Shalit was released, we didn’t know what his condition would be, how he would look or how he would readjust to society.

When Gilad returned we were relieved to see that although he lost a considerable amount of weight he was doing relatively well.

Now that Gilad is back home, he is taking his time to readjust.

In the Israeli newspapers we get a daily report of what Gilad is up to. He has been seen riding a bicycle, spending time with friends and going to the beach. The Knesset invited him to sit in on their next meeting and he was invited by Maccabi Tel Aviv to attend a basketball game but he declined both offers. Gilad needs to take small steps in order to readjust to this world after spending over five years in the dark. This week he is going to have a full medical exam and have his physical wounds from when he was captured taken care of. The harder part is going to be the emotional part, when he will have to tell his whole story, almost reliving the horrors of being in captivity.

Starting over is never easy, especially when you now have to go outside in sunglasses since you were forced to live underground for over five years without sunlight.

The fact that Noach and his family were able to start the world anew after seeing the entire world destroyed by a flood should give us hope that no matter how difficult a situation we may be faced with we have the ability to pull through and carry on.