On Sunday, June 8, across the board, people gathered to run in solidarity for Israel as part of their weekly walk to support the hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas. This movement is part of a larger organization, Run For Their Lives, which was launched after Oct. 7. This past week, attendance for Run For Their Lives reached a major uptick following the events in Boulder, Colorado.
This action has now spread to over 230 cities worldwide, hoping to raise awareness. In Teaneck, participants typically gather around 10 a.m., with about 30 people walking around the park before sending a video to the hostages’ families. In response to recent events of Jew-hatred, attendance at these runs has begun to rise.
Elchanan Ogorek, the organizer of the Teaneck chapter, said these numbers represent the commitment to the cause and “continuing to raise our voices for the voiceless.” Ari Gononsky, a Teaneck resident and weekly attendee at Run For Their Lives, said “We walk every week because they can’t and we’ll continue to do so until all 55 are home.” Bergen County Shomrim wrote on Facebook about how impressive Sunday’s walk was, saying, “What amazing turnout today as the community came out in mass!” They affirmed that the Teaneck community “won’t be intimidated and won’t back down from hate.”
The Riverdale Run for Their Lives chapter concluded its gathering at “The Monument,” a memorial tower commemorating World War I veterans from three local neighborhoods. Ari Vogel and Netta Pack, Riverdale’s organizers, expressed, “Unfortunately, we’re here for another week reading out the list of 55 hostages. Our list is getting shorter, and it’s not for a good cause.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres spoke at the event, highlighting the importance of coming together. He said, “We’re sending a message that we refuse to hide in fear.” Echoing the mission of Run for Their Lives, he called out for the hostages’ return, and said, “More than 611 days of captivity is a level of suffering that most of us cannot imagine; bring them home!”
Torres also condemned “the cold-blooded murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum, and an arson attack on Jews in Boulder who were simply demanding the release of the hostages.” He ended his remarks saying, “We cannot separate these acts of terror and violence from the words and ideas that incite them. Words and ideas have the power to incite hatred that hardens into violence. As a society, we cannot simply treat the symptom. We have to confront and cure the disease.” This disease, according to him, is antisemitism, and he hopes to fight against the “disease of Jew-hatred, of antisemitism, from the body politic of our country.” He firmly stated, “The atmosphere of fear is not only created by the violence of a few, but by the silence of many.”
Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz said, “I’ve been around for a while now. I have never in my entire life seen what’s happening in this country as what we’re seeing today.” He spoke about the hatred from all sides of the political spectrum and showed that antisemitism was always there. “It just didn’t happen all of a sudden,” he said. The assemblyman stressed, “We have to never be silent, to demand the release of the hostages. We have to speak out, because silence is like saying it’s okay.”
City Councilman Eric Dinowitz added, “I wish we weren’t here to demand the release of the hostages, something so straightforward and easy and somehow caught up in political controversy.” In reference to the upcoming New York City primaries, Dinowitz said, “It is important to have leaders who will say what some people right now are, for some reason, scared to say. Jewish people have the right to live with safety and dignity, babies shouldn’t be snatched from their cribs, young women should not be violated, senior citizens shouldn’t be kidnapped from their homes and their lives.”
After these statements, Dinowitz asked those gathered to ponder these questions: “Who is going to keep us safe? Who is going to support the Jewish community? Who is going to support all of us here in New York City?” He ended by urging them to go vote.
Maurice Schneider, Shiri Bibas’s uncle, also spoke. “We shouldn’t hate each other. We have to be proud of what we are, 100%,” he said.
Rabbi Avi Weiss concluded the event, saying, “Fear is an emotion. It’s a feeling. Feelings are not right nor wrong. They just are. There is nothing wrong with feeling afraid, but there is something terribly wrong with acting afraid.” Weiss continued, “We cannot control what we feel. We can control the way we act. The real hero does right by acting against internal fear.”
Weiss noted, “Antisemitism is a real disease. It’s not simple to stand up against antisemitism. We understandably may feel vulnerable bringing more attention to ourselves. I’ve seen this throughout the world. People are afraid to stand up and speak truth to evil. But a cardinal principle of not just activism, but spiritual activism, is the more we stand up against antisemitism, the more we are protected, rather than rendered vulnerable.”
Tenafly’s chapter, organized by Roberto Cymrot, shared his experience and overall involvement with Run for Their Lives. He said, “We were one of the first Run for Their Lives groups to form. To our community, this is an important cause because Edan Alexander, who was a hostage until last month, grew up in Tenafly.” Specifically, their numbers expanded this week from their usual large participation of “50-60 people, rain or shine,” with Jewish day schools frequently sending their students to join them. He said a significant week for the Tenafly chapter was “when Edan’s parents came to the walk in early 2024, we had about 1,500 people walking with us.” Last week, the Tenafly mayor attended their walk to support the community, with “over 100 people walking.” Cymrot said this represented that “We will not be intimidated by terrorist acts and remain committed to walking until all the hostages are set free.”
Another gathering occurred in Central Park, where over 2,000 people joined Run for Their Lives. Some notable attendees were Raz Ben Ami, a survivor of 55 days in Hamas captivity, Sarah Cohen, mother of Matan Leor, z”l, Rep. Dan Goldman, and Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove.
These are just a few reflections from the many rallies held across communities that participated on Sunday in the Run for Their Lives movement.
