My grandfather is Hamas oldest hostage and Hanukkah is dark without him
As Hanukkah dawns, a deal that could bring my grandfather and 99 other hostages home from Hamas captivity after more than a year of suffering may finally be within reach.Every Hanukkah, my grandfather Shlomo Mantzur, a true handyman, was in his element as he crafted his own menorahs.He always won the yearly menorah-making competition at his home of Kibbutz Kissufim in southern Israel.We used to call him the Light of the Family, with that big smile that would spread warmth wherever he went.
Now, that light has been taken from us.At 86, my grandfather is currently the oldest hostage held in Gaza.The same man who survived the horrors of the Farhud in Iraq as a child in 1941 is now living through another nightmare.Back then, they broke into his family’s home, beat his parents and committed unspeakable acts that haunted his dreams.
Yet somehow he never let that darkness define him.My grandparents kept a small gray and turquoise clay sign at the entrance to their home in the kibbutz.The sign, marked with a little hamsa hand amulet on its left side, read “Life is Happy Here in This World.”And it was true — life was genuinely happy there.
When friends worried about my visits to my grandparents in the Gaza envelope, I’d get excited instead.I felt safe there.Until that black Saturday of Oct.
7.On that day, Hamas terrorists shot through my grandparents’ door and walls before entering.They handcuffed my grandfather and took him away in his sleepwear, while my grandmother Mazal (meaning “luck” in Hebrew) managed to escape to a neighbor’s safe room.The clay sign at their home entrance was shattered by bullets, leaving just four haunting words: “Life is Happy Here.”Since then, life has been anything but.Last Hanukkah was our first without him.We gathered at my aunt’s house to light candles with my grandmother.Everything felt wrong and sad.
My young cousins lit the candles, but I can’t even remember if we sang the traditional songs.The first time I sp...