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Tens of Thousands Participate in Global Shema Prayer on Behalf of Israeli Hostages
April 2024
By Ron Kampeas
(JTA) Tens of thousands of Jews around the world joined in a collective recitation of the Shema prayer on Thursday that was broadcast from Jerusalem’s Western Wall to support the more than 130 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
The event was organized by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum along with Aish HaTorah, a haredi Orthodox yeshiva and outreach movement. They timed it to the Fast of Esther, which commemorates the threat the Jews of Persia faced from their persecutor, Haman, in the Purim story.
The call for participation took off in Jewish communities around the world, with synagogues of all denominations encouraging their members to join in and Jewish day schools pausing their lessons to have their students say the Shema. Jewish influencers on social media also exhorted their followers to participate.
The YouTube livestream from the Western Wall registered over 150,000 viewers, but there were signs that far more people were participating: The Google search engine registered a massive spike in queries for the Shema at 11 a.m., just before the planned prayer time.
At the Western Wall, speakers wearing tags marked “167” for the number of days the hostages have been captive likened the plight of the hostages to the Jews of Persia in the Purim tale.
“Many Jewish girls were kidnapped in that ancient Persian kingdom,” said Rabbi Eitiel Goldwicht, perched on a plateau overlooking the Western Wall plaza, where hundreds were gathered in the lead-up to the prayer. “And Queen Esther was taken to the royal palace and she was kept hostage for five years, and then antisemitism rose across the entire world.”
Ahead of the prayers, soldiers on leave from the front and the families of hostages appeared, including the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted on Oct. 7 from the Nova music festival.
Rachel Goldberg spoke about why Hersh has become a symbol of the plight of the hostages.
“He’s very familiar to a lot people, he looks a lot like everybody, it could be anyone’s son,” she said. “There’s a familiarity to him that makes it feel like it could be anyone’s son, anyone’s brother, anyone’s grandson, anyone’s friend.”
Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, led prayers for then hostages and for the soliders fighting the war launched by Hamas on Oct. 7, when its terrorists invaded Israel, murdering approximately 1,200 people and abducting more than 250. Of those hostages, more than 130 remain captive.
He culminated with the Shema, a passage from Deuteronomy that serves as the signature prayer affirming the Jewish belief in one God.
Along with the Jewish participants, non-Jews joined as well. “This Christian pastor, scientist, husband and father with not one drop of Jewish blood in his veins will be praying the Shema at 10:15 Central along with people all over the world,” said Patrick Mead of Our Harbor, a virtual church. “Join me.”
Watch: "The Table" - Excerpt from Mayne Mentshn Act 1: The Klezmer Sketch
Excerpt of The Klezmer Sketch, performed on March 13, 2015 at NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center). Video by Nel Shelby Productions.
Choreography by Carolyn Dorfman
Music Composed, Arranged & Adapted by Greg Wall
Costumes by Russell Aubrey
Lighting recreated by Marika Kent
Performance by Caroline Dietz, Justin Dominic, Adam Gauzza, Jenny Gillan-Powell, Ashleigh Hunter, Brandon Jones, AeSoon Kim, Louie Marin, Rian Maxwell, and Katlyn Waldo
Carolyn Dorfman created Mayne Mentshn as a tribute to her family, from her nuclear and extended family, to the human race at large. It is about a spirit and passion for life, people and truth. It is about life, death, survival and renewal.
Mayne Mentshn (My People), is a work that resonates from the very depths of Dorfman’s soul. Although she feels connected to every dance that she creates, never before has a work connected every facet of her being. With mind, body, spirit, both past and present, the creation of Mayne Mentshn was an inevitability for Dorfman, as she connected the past and present to define her path towards the future.
MAYNE MENTSHN was made possible in part by a grant from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Pearl Zeltzer Fund for Jewish Choreography, the AT&T Foundation; Nick and Shelley DeFilippis; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; Joel, Carol, Noah & Jordan Dorfman; Henry and Mala Dorfman; Gregory S. Gallick, M.D.; The Karma Foundation; North Star Partners, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation; and Summit Physical Therapy.
