Photos: Gilad Shalit Spends First Free Shabbos at the Beach

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gilad-shalit2[Photos below.] Gilad Shalit made his first visit to the beach on Shabbos, following a prisoner swap deal last week that ended his five-year captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Shalit arrived at Betzet beach in the north of Israel with his father Noam, where they encountered Haaretz photographer Yaron Kaminsky, who happened to be there with his family.

Kaminsky then took a photograph of the Shalits, and afterward informed Noam Shalit that he had done so.

“In the last few years I have taken many photographs of the Shalit family, surrounded by countless cameras. It was nice to just run into them like that, at the beach, during Gilad’s first Shabbat since being freed from captivity,” Kaminsky said.

“I told him I felt bad,” Kaminsky told Army Radio on Sunday, saying that Gilad’s father replied only: “Don’t,” before continuing the trip with his son.

Gilad Shalit was freed last Tuesday by Hamas in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners.

President Shimon Peres is expected to visit Shalit at his Mitzpeh Hila home within the next few days.

Members of the public continued to make their way to Mitzpeh Hila over the weekend, but are being kept away from the Shalit home itself. Some were bearing gifts, including food and flowers.

Policemen guarding the home have found themselves in the role of delivery staff, relaying the offerings to the family. Residents in the area expect the crowds to gradually taper off now that the Sukkot holiday has officially ended.

See below for photos of Gilad yesterday with his father:

{Haaretz/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}


80 COMMENTS

  1. no big deal
    we werent born yesterday
    they arent frum jews
    we dont expect them to spend shbbos in shul
    i take from this the obvious

  2. May he find Hashem soon.

    I am happy he is a live and safe. I wish I knew how to contact him. I would invite him for a Shabbos.

  3. I am happy this was posted. This way we know what his matzav is. Now someone can go teach them about Torah. If Matzav didn’t report this how would we know that they aren’t religious?

  4. To comment #3 – I’m not criticizing Shalit. He is a tinok shenishba. Matzav is at fault. Shalit doesn’t know any better, but Matzav does- & to write that Shalit spends first Shabbos free at beach (being machalel Shabbos) is wrong. Either write nothing, or write something else, or don’t mention Shabbos.

  5. Mr. Shalit should be a bit more sensitive to the Orthodox community! What happened to his Yarmulkah now? He needs God more than ever now. He should have thanked HaShem when his son came back home alive, he is a Jew!

  6. Halachicly we are not alloowed to derive any pleasure from “maaseh shabbos” – any melocho done by a yid on shabbos, so you are not allowed to post this cause every headline like this brings them visitors.

  7. Everyone should calm down. It is nothing new that the Shalits were not shomrei Torah. There is nothing wrong with reporting this. It is nothing new. The aim should be to bring them to religious life, but everyone who is going crazy should take it easy.

  8. The sad fact of the matter is that the Shalits never were religious in any way and identified themselves with the frum community only because they knew that the frum community would be the only ones to rally behind them in the name of “Ahavas Yisroel.”

  9. What a terrible waste of five years, if his only thought upon emerging that gehennom was to go to the beach on Shabbos! He had enough time in solitary confinement to contemplate the purpose of creation and his role in the broader picture. Chaval.

  10. where there’s life there’s hope. Let’s hope that he will find that the religious way of following Hashem’s ways will give him more pleasure than going to the beach on Shabbos.

  11. After his ordeal, he could have been lying in bed depressed, or in a mental institution. Boruch Hashem he has joie de vivre, he wants to live. Fresh air, sun and water are part of his healing process.

  12. to #21, how in the world do you have the guts to judge someone like him?? He has just been in solitary confinement for 5 freakin years and you’re judging him? Do you what it feels to go through that????? Yeh, it’s a shame that he didn’t flip out in prison. But don’t say what he had enough time to think about. Who do you think you are judging a person who just went through that???

  13. Until now, when he was in captivity, he literally was a “tinok shenishbah”. Now that he’s free to live his life as he sees fit, well that may different story…

  14. For those of you who judge Gilad’s lack of Torah observance, please note that even Jews from a solid frum background can go off the derech from suffering, kal v’chomer a Jew from a secular background not becoming frum at all during a period of intense suffering.

    Shocking, but true: 5 years of torture and pro-Arab propaganda in a Hamas prison does not necessarily spark teshuvah. If such a thing was as sure a bet as some of you seem to think, then kiruv organizations would dispense with their classes, Shabbos meals, and hospitality and instead starve and torture the potential BTs while holding them in solitary confinement.

  15. Imo onochi b’tzoroh — seriously? you cannot be with him b’tzoroh and right such judgemental and hate filled words. Actually, this entire line of comments is pretty stupid and low level for the commentors. Just move on to the next story and leave the hugement up to HKB”H

  16. You all may be right. He should thank hashem for releasing him and looking at it as a big miriacle and start to be chozer btshuva.

    The problem here is that people should find faults in themselves and become chozer betshuva .

    MAY SHALIT AND HIS FAMILY BE CHOZER BTSHUVA

  17. i think its disgusting how everyone is following every move of his daily life, like the goyisher stars let him live his own private life without everyone taking pictures of him wherever he goes and whatever he does!!!!!!!!!

  18. I agree with #1. Chillul Shabbos is not to be publicized. There is nothing to be proud of and nothing to be thankful for if the outcome is Chillul Shabbos that is according to the gemoro equal to Kol Hatorah Kula.

  19. Who do you people think you are to judge them?! You think your Shabbos is any better? You fress talk and shluff all day!
    Hashem doesn’t need your Shabbos. You might as well join the Shalits on the beach.

  20. The Shalits perhaps went for a dip. What do they know any better? But it’s usur to enjoy pictures that came through a yids taking the picture and being michalel shabis as a result. It’s funny how the Shalits rallied the Charedim, and enjoyed their chizuk and vote in the cabinet.

  21. While it is clearly wrong. We should not judge him. We must understand the environment that he grew up in was not shommer shabbos and he simply does not realize the significance of Shabbos. His intentions are good even though his actions are inappropriate. Let hope that one day he will understand the truth. But for now, we should not judge him.

  22. After the numerous tragedies we suffered this summer, we’ve heard a call from many gedolim and rabbonim to build on the achdus that was displayed this summer.

  23. It is sad! But it is the fact!
    The photographer was Mechallel Shabbos Kodesh. Did we need the video to go along with the picture?
    I wish he finds the true path to Hakadosh Baruch Hu asap. Now we need to daven for him. Now we need to shower him with Ahavas Yisroel! HaShem has given us the chance! btw, his dad knows that it was “ONLY” the frummer Yidden who really cared for him.

  24. and to #5: Ahavat Yisrael comes from FOLLOWING halacha, not by going against it
    and # 17: Being ‘nothing new’ is absolutely NO HETER to repeat it

  25. 16: Ushmartem es hashabbos ki kodesh hi. Hi Kodesh v’ein maaseha kodesh. Numerous sources in Shas. Most recently in Daf Yomi terms, Chulin 114.

  26. whoops…please allow me to correct some spelling errors: “write such judgemental…” and “leave the judgement up to HKB”H”
    sorry about that!

  27. Just about every move he makes now needs to be done with the thought of its therapeutic value in normalizing his life again. One can see how a pleasant outing at the beach can be therapeutic. We can daven for him that he will soon understand and commit to be shomer Shabbos; first he has to undo the nightmare of his last 5 years.

  28. 1) Why do we need to know how Gilad is spending Shabbos?

    2) Why should we look at pictures taken by another person who was Mechallel Shabbos?

  29. This past Shabbos I unfortunately missed z’man kreeyas Shma.

    I’m sure some people reading this website also did something this past Shabbos, that they too, wish never became public knowledge. 

    Do you think we want our peccadillos posted on a public forum?

    Do you think I would want to read online or in print “Chaim Goldberg* missed z’man kreeyas Shma”(name changed to protect privacy)

    Please take note: Oy lanu leyom hadin is reserved for HKB”H. The RBS”O will admonish us. 

    Not you. 

    Why do you post what Mr. Shalit did on Shabbos?

    Why can’t you give him the privacy he so richly deserves?

  30. For those of you who find those pics offensive, there are so many Tinok She’Nishba and understand this: This is [Y]OUR fault.

    If there were more Haredim active, involved, displayed more Ahavat Chinam, Achdut, and Torat Chaim rather then Torah Emet, especially towards the Gilad Shalit’s family, campaign, & events, ask yourselves for the 2nd time, how would you view these Mechalel Shabbat pictures?

  31. B”H he’s healthy enough to be able to go out and face other people, walk around, enjoy the fresh air. Can we leave it at that?

  32. I think that it is very healthy and spiritually renewing for this fellow to go to the beach. I bet that the beach is the best thing for someone in captivity for such a long time.

  33. ha ha ha this whole shmooze is so funny
    the guy was just held captive for 5 years and there are people here who think it was a problem he went to the beach?? ha ha./ there is nothing no problem with reporting this. it is news. ask a rabbi

  34. It is most likely pikuach nefesh. Recall that his skin did not absorb sunlight for FIVE YEARS. Be melamed zechus and don’t always look for the negatives

  35. 47: See Biur Halacha Orach Chaim 318:1 s.v. achas mishar melachos, and maybe this would require destroying the camera 🙂

  36. To #27 and #31: Who’s judging him? It is just a very big chaval that he had to go through five years of gehennom and not emerge from the horrific experience with anything of value to show for time spent. I’m not judging him; I’m just feeling very, very sorry for him. If one goes through a horrific experience but grows as a person from it, that is a nechama of sorts. But to have endured the horror and have come away with nothing? I can’t think of anything more tragic than that. Chaval!

  37. I am amazed at many of the comments here! Our community did very little to get him released. maybe the modern orthodox did a little but we did almost nothing.
    So please give it up and stop worrying about his frumkeit. He spent 5 years suffering cause he was yid which means we need to do a lot of mitzvas to come close to hi soilem habah after 120.

  38. To #66

    Doing the following, which should not be done on Shabbos:

    Dressing in non-Shabbos-dik clothes and bathing suits, carrying in Rishus Rabbim (and there may have been possible Muktzeh in the bag; I don’t know), going swimming.

    Also, if there were women at the beach etc.

  39. 23 (Give him a break), well said.
    And to Yitzchok (65), we spent years davening for him, heart and soul, as well as letters to the Red Cross, etc. What were we davening for? That one of our boys, a precious young man, who was putting his life on the line for us, come back safely, that another set of Jewish parents shouldn’t suffer pain.
    B”H, we got it! (At what price is not relevant here.)
    So all you out there who were also davening: was it conditional? Really?!?!? Come on.
    Again, B”H he’s home, and yeah, let’s give him some space but OTOH, I’m glad to hear he’s on the road to normal.

    And BTW, to the rest of the peanut gallery, google Rabbi Grossman of Migdal HaEmek…

  40. #63 – how do you have any idea what he came away with? Did you have an exclusive interview with him like that Egyptian beheimeh? And if he came away with an absence of emunah, take the example of our gedolim who urged us not to judge Holocaust survivors who lost their emunah.
    #65 – You are right, to a point. The tefilos of the frum community were vital – all elements of it. But you should know that the non frum community too was heavily involved, and not only in publicity, but also in tefiloh. I know of a number of non frum who were saying tehilim for him for years.

  41. Now, we know the Shalits are not religious and are leftists. But, as Jews, there should be some yirat Shamayim. Probably never thanked Hashem for Gilad’s release. That should have been the natural reaction by anyone, Jew or non-Jew. Religious and non-religious Jews were praying for him and saying Tehilim, but am curious to know if, hopefully, they knew to thank the One Above for his release. Right now, Gilad is, sort of, in shock after such an ordeal; but his parents should publicly come out thanking, most of all, G-D, and all who prayed for their son. Any which way, we welcome Gilad back home.

  42. This post is silly. Thousands of Israelis go to the beach on Shabbos. Nebach. Let’s do something to help, rather than making snide comments.

  43. I think it’s beautiful that he spent Shabbat at the beach! Enjoying the beauty and splendor that Hashem has provided.

    I’m glad to see that there is nothing in this article to diminish the beauty of his time with his father.

  44. Obviously, many of you have never heard of mitzvah shel chessed. You apparently davened for him so that you get thanks in the way you think is appropriate – him SUDDENLY becoming shomer Shabbat. HaShem opens people’s eyes when He wants to. Stay out of His business and tend to your own.

  45. I guess if some of you had spent over five years in Hamas captivity, you would have suddenly stopped speaking Lashon H’Ara. He’s been living in gehinnom. LEAVE HIM ALONE. We were so happy having him back, and now people suddenly feel that his behavior should be as they think it should be. You all must be perfect, from the comments I’ve read and thus feel that you are free to make judgments.

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