First of all I’d like to thank Rabbi Nicky, Shuli, Jo Grose and you, In ithe community of Highgate Shul for inviting us here again. And this time it truly is a pleasure.
Because Emily’s back!
Thanks to everyone’s prayers and support, and thanks to Emily’s own courage, resilience and strength, I’m so overjoyed to say that she is here and we are together with the you, the Highgate community, this morning.
Before I came here today I looked at the speech I made in this Shul, last year, describing Emily, how she truly radiates joy and happiness, lighting up every room she enters.
I told you that she was always a brilliant friend and would literally turn the world upside down to help anyone who needed it. I described how family and friends meant everything to her. And she meant everything to us.
Now as you can see from the last 100 days or so I was telling the truth.
From the moment Emily was released from captivity she showed the World her true strength of character, her extraordinary spirit, and despite all her suffering, her inner light and optimism, ever present, shines through.
Think of that first moment, the smile on her face when she stepped out of the Hamas terrorists car. The way she raised, her bandaged hand, missing two fingers, when she spoke to her brothers on the phone and shouted “I survived”. She went to her first Maccabi Tel Aviv game after she returned beaming with enthusiasm. She found words to inspire a nation, when she lit the torch at the ceremony for Israel’s 77th Independence day.
She is campaigning tirelessly for the hostages and especially for her friends from Kfar Aza, Gali and Zivi Berman.
And we’ve heard from Romi Gonen, who was held with her in Gaza, talk about Emily’s strength and the support she gave Romi when they were together.
So, yes, you can see I was speaking the truth about her last year and not exaggerating.
And now I’m so glad that other people have been able to see what I have witnessed her whole life, Emily’s rare ability to bring happiness into people’s lives in a way that no one else can. She has managed to raise the morale of the Israeli and Jewish people everywhere, just by being Emily, despite the unimaginable horrors she endured in Gaza.
And we are so happy and thankful to be back in the UK, to say thanks to everyone who showed their support and prayed for Emily and helped carry us through those darkest days when we didn’t know if we would see her again.
In time she will undoubtedly tell her own story about what happened to her in Gaza.
But at the moment we are just here to catch our breath and enjoy a much needed break, before Emily once again has to go through another operation to remove some shrapnel in her leg and improve the function in her hand and go through another round of painful rehabilitation.
When we return to Israel, she will also finally be moving out of the hotel where she has been staying, and into an rented house close to where Sean and I are living. A small but meaningful step towards rebuilding a life.
But despite being ecstatically happy that Emily is back with us, we are asking you now not to forget the 59 hostages that are still held by Hamas in Gaza under dire conditions, in constant fear of their life. And as we now know for certain, those who are left alive are starving, in pain and enduring constant physical and psychological torture. We need to bring all the hostages home. The living back to the arms of their families, and the murdered, so they can receive the dignity of a respectful burial.
So please, we ask you, continue to support them. Continue to pray for them.
We cannot stop until every single one is brought home.
And from the bottom of our hearts – on behalf of my entire family – Thank you.
Mandy Damari, May 10, 2025
