Page 28 - Shalom Toronto Centre Passover 2024

Remembering the Israeli Hostages at Synagogue
our author is Rabbi Stephen Wise spiritual leader of Shaarei Beth El Synagogue in Oakville
The installation stretched across Among the most prominent tactics
the sanctuary here at Shaarei-
Beth El. A table set for 130 beautifully set for shabbat yet each chair is empty. There is a high chair and a booster with the pictures of two beautiful baby boys. Each plate has a picture. This table is set for the hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza and we pray daily for their return.
Hamas took the hostages on Oct. 7, when it attacked Israel, killing over 1,400 people and wounding thousands. Since then, their families and supporters have organized to keep the world’s attention on their captivity, amid Israel’s now 6 month war against Hamas in Gaza and her response to the massacre.
employed by families of the hostages has been the distribution of “Kidnapped” posters, t-shirts, bracelets and ribbons, showcasing the stories of each of the captives. This empty Shabbat table is just one symbol of the captives’ plight.
Jessica Steinberg writing in the Times of Israel reminds us that setting an empty seat for prisoners has been part of the global Jewish protest lexicon since the 1960s during the movement to free Refusenik Soviet Jews from the USSR. There were seats draped with Israeli flags when Israeli solider Gilad Shalit was held for years in Gaza. The tables for the hostages are larger in scope and now have been set up in other cities including
Rabbi Stephen Wise