As time marches on, it can get harder to maintain communal awareness of the plight of Israeli hostages still trapped, under unknown conditions, in Gaza. The “Kidnapped” signs are still on people’s lawns, and shuls still recite Tehillim daily. But as summer pursuits take our attention, the heightened sensitivity to the pain of the hostages and their families can slip away all too easily.
The leaders of Congregation B’nai Israel in Manalapan decided to resist this tendency by holding a community gathering on July 18 as part of the international “Week of Goodness” organized by supporters of the families of the hostages. And they leveraged this gathering to enable the shul to participate in another initiative by Worldwide Mizrachi, to mark the first yahrzeit of the victims of the October 7 massacre.
The Week of Goodness campaign (https://weekofgoodness.com) notes that “the families of all the hostages have been running to the ends of the earth, to do everything possible to help save our loved ones.” The website invited Jewish communities around the world “to surge goodness into the world,” to “bring more light into the world” in the merit of the hostages.
The Week of Goodness offered action steps for the week of July 14:
Sunday, July 14—Joining in an evening of communal singing.
Monday, July 15—Dedicating (at least) 15 minutes to learn, to participate in a worldwide effort to complete the entire Tanach.
Tuesday and Wednesday, July 16 and 17—Volunteering in your community.
Thursday, July 18—Organize a Hafrashat Challah (group challah baking event) in honor of one of the hostages.
Friday, July 19—Participate in Kabbalat Shabbat services.
Shari Tepper, the new president of Congregation B’nai Israel, said that her shul organized a group Hafrashat Challah on July 18 in honor of Omri Miran, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from Kibbutz Nahal Oz and left behind his wife, Lishay, and their two small daughters. He is still being held hostage in Gaza.
Tepper noted that several dozen Congregation B’nai Israel families paid $36 per family to participate in the Hafrashat Challah, which was one of 120 similar events taking place that night around the country and throughout Israel. The challah baking at Congregation B’nai Israel was led by Sara Schapiro of the Chabad of Western Monmouth County, who also works as a teacher in The Hebrew Academy of Marlboro.
Noah and Jacqueline Glyn attended the event with their two young children. Asked why they came to the event, they told The Jewish Link: “We like challah, we love Israel, and we love our shul. This is the perfect combination of all three. And it has the added element of bringing attention to the hostage situation. We think of them every day so it was important to be here.”
Tepper reported that with the admission fees and sponsorships, the Hafrashat Challah raised over $1,800, which will enable the shul to participate in another initiative, Worldwide Mizrachi’s Simchat Torah Project. In this project, 1,600 communities around the world will each dance on Simchat Torah with a Torah with a specially made cover (me’il) created for each community and carrying the name of one of the kedoshim killed on October 7, 2023.
Congregation B’nai Israel has registered to be one of these 1,600 communities and invites community members in Monmouth County to join them in dancing with their Simchat Torah First Yahrzeit Torah on the night of Thursday, October 24 and the morning of Friday, October 25. For more information, send an email to [email protected].
Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes reader feedback.
