I'd been davening for him among the other hostages. His family held a special place in my heart, due to being founders of the Hope Forum, which courageously stands against releasing bloodthirsty terrorists in return for hostages. (His father, Eliyahu Liebman, is the head of the council of the Biblical city of Kiryat Arba.)
(Had the powers-that-be wanted to, they could have solved the problem of getting the hostages back to their families with a few days at the beginning — WITHOUT releasing any bloodthirsty terrorists; the length of the hostages' time in captivity is unconscionable. A post for another time...)
Equally upsetting, Elyakim Shlomo was never taken hostage, as publicized by the powers-that-be.
Instead, he was murdered while serving as a security for the infamous party near the Gazan border.
Elyakim Shlomo faced several opportunities to run for his life, but he stayed to care for and protect injured fellow Jews, also ensuring as many other fellow Jews as possible could escape the slaughter. Reported by eyewitnesses and beneficiaries of his self-sacrifice, this has been known since the beginning.
So what happened?
Why was he reported as captive when he was actually lying deceased within the Israeli border (and therefore, there was no indication he was actually a hostage as reported)?
For reasons either unclear or yet unknown, authorities received special permission to open up the grave of a young woman murdered at Re'im. By mistake, Elyakim Shlomo was buried with her.
I have several questions about how this happened and even more, why it was only thought of/discovered now, and not months ago. (And how did they come to thinking to open davka this grave?)
I also felt gutted on behalf of the Liebmans, who this entire time, have been working to release the hostages and worrying about their son's suffering as he presumably remained captive by the barbaric Hamas — and he was lying deceased in a grave this entire time.
At the same time, there's also a certain amount of relief.
He never suffered through the torturous captivity of Hamas this entire time.
And there's closure now that he has been found and laid to rest properly.
However, it's hard to even imagine what his family must be experiencing (though his parents sent out a beautiful message regarding the heartbreaking news).
Then a couple of thoughts popped up:
1) While their son experienced the terror of that horrible day (while heroically working to save as many Jewish lives as he could), he never experienced the torment of Hamas captivity after all. In other words, he hadn't been suffering this whole time as we all assumed.
2) It must be some kind of relief and comfort to know that they never pushed for the release of terrorists on behalf of their son, who was actually deceased in Israel this whole time.
3) They were among the primary founders of the Hope Forum. They invested their strength, passion, courage, and ahavas Yisrael in the chizuk and support of the other families of hostages while pushing for the return of the hostages without the release of savage murderers. While they would've been wonderful supporters of the families regardless, believing they acted on behalf of their son and brother likely imbued them with even more motivation.
Basically, the Liebman family acted as a power for courageous good on behalf of ALL of Am Yisrael.
I very much bless them to be comforted among all the other mourners of Yerusalayim and Tzion.
And please may we all perform a good deed or learn mishnayos or dedicate our learning l'ilui nishmat Elyakim Shlomo ben Eliyahu.
Hashem yinkom damo.
Elyakim Shlomo and his heroic family are also mentioned in these posts: