Shalom and thank you for question! It’s an excellent one. In fact Halachic authorities discuss a very similar situation. If a person in prison is given the opportunity to pray ONE of the yearly prayer services, which one should he choose? The answer is… the closest one! Why? A person should always utilize the closest opportunity to perform a mitzvah, and the merit of that mitzvah can become the vehicle which enables him to be freed from the obstacles in his path. The Jews in Egypt needed to be freed from slavery, G-d could have taken them out of Egypt on eagles’ wings or a magic carpet, but the slave mentality had to be taken out of THEM! The Egyptians worshipped sheep, and G-d told Moses to instruct the people to a tie a sheep to their beds for several days – in direct defiance of the Egyptian form of idol worship. Thus the Jewish people had to free themselves of the influence that Egyptian culture had had on them. In the merit of their willingness to take that leap of faith and go against what they had gotten used to believing, they were able to be taken out of Egypt.
There are many sources in Judaism which teach that the act of placing our trust in G-d serves as a reason for G-d to show His mercy and ‘come through’ for us.
In the Talmud, Brachot 10a, a story is told about the King Ezekiah (Chizkiyahu in Hebrew) who was told by the prophet Isaiah (Yishayahu in Hebrew) that he would be cut off from life in this world and the next because he had not married and fulfilled the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, even though he had a ‘good’ reason not to. He knew by Divine inspiration that he was destined to have a wicked child and thus refrained from marrying. The idea was brought up that he should marry the prophet’s daughter, but the prophet said it was too late to change the decree. King Chizkiyahu countered this by saying that he learned from his ‘father’ (he was descended from King David) that “even if a sword is resting upon your neck you should not despair of (G-d’s) mercy.” He did indeed marry the prophet’s daughter and they had a son called Menashe who turned out to be one of the most wicked kings of Israel , BUT Menashe repented at the end of his life and his soul was eventually reincarnated and rectified. This extreme example is often referred to as a lesson for us not to despair.
Regarding the potential situation you describe, we can say that once our ‘captive’ grabs the chance to act upon his Judaism by utilizing the closest opportunity to perform a mitzvah (actually in a twenty-four hour leave one could perform many many mitzvot) the situation may possibly change, and he may be released from his captivity.
Such a story happened in Europe during a period of war between Hungary and a neighboring country. I do not remember if it was Austria or another country – we will call it the enemy country. (This story is a famous Chassidic story handed down for several generations.) A Chassidic Jew called Srulik was a merchant who dealt with dried fruit and other goods. He lived in the country that bordered Hungary and often crossed the border to do business. Between business trips he would often visit his Rebbe. On one such trip visit he presented his Rebbe with a gift of dried pears and other delicacies. Later on he crossed the border to the Hungarian city of Debrecyn, and as he was walking on the street after having deposited his wares at the guest house where he was staying, he was suddenly apprehended by Hungarian soldiers who, upon seeing from his papers that he was a citizen of the neighboring country, claimed that he was spying for that country since war had just broken out, and promptly put him in a military prison. The merchant poured out his heart in Psalms and prayers to G-d. He was court marshalled and sentenced to be hanged on the coming Sabbath. As soldiers were leading him to his sentence, an impressive looking general approached and spoke to the merchant. “Srulik” he exclaimed “its been so many years, what is going on?” Srulik did not recall having met the man but nevertheless he told him how he had been accused of spying and sentenced to death. “Nonsense” said the general “Srulik is no spy!” and he commanded the soldiers to return him to his cell. They did so and a short while later the door to the cell was thrown open by soldiers from Srulik’s home country who sent him back home as a war hero – after retreiving the wares he had left at the guest house. When Srulik thereafter visited his Rebbe – his Rebbe revealed to him that while partaking of Srulik’s dried pears on the festival of the fifteenth of Shvat, he had arranged for a heavenly visitor (possibly Elijah the prophet) to appear as the general who saved him.
Our captive can thus run to perform a mitzvah, as it says in Tractate Avot, and anticipate Divine mercy.
