Rabbi Conover Updated Blog

Last Shabbat at Temple Sholom, we celebrated two double Bnai Mitzvah— four Bar Mitzvah boys were called to Torah in the course of the day. In the morning, two of them chanted:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha’olam Matir Asurim.

Blessed are You, O God, who frees the captive.

This prayer (that sounds like a declaration), rang out in the sanctuary and, of course, stays with me here.

This afternoon, with other colleagues, I spoke with family members and friends of people held captive in Gaza. We spoke with the family of Omer Wenkert, 22 years old, who was kidnapped while attending the Supernova Sukkot Gathering in Re’im. They worry about how he is managing— especially with a chronic illness. We talked with friends of Keren Munder taken hostage with her son, Ohad, who became 9 years old this past week in captivity.

With Ohad in mind, I spent quite some time looking at a long, perfectly set Shabbat table with 200 empty chairs, a haunting art installation by activists in front of the Tel Aviv Art Museum. Most upsetting are the chairs set with bibs, bottles, and stuffed animals for the babies and children held in captivity. They bring this horror home.

They also remind me of a comment made to me by an Israeli: “Gaza, where half the people are under 18, has a lot of innocent Palestinians held hostage by Hamas as well.” I was taken aback by his comment, not because I didn’t agree, but because I didn’t expect to hear this comment from an otherwise somewhat brusque man. He refused to associate all Palestinians with Hamas terror, not even in this time of extreme pain and anguish.

Tonight at dinner we learned that one of the hostages, Private Ori Megidish, was freed.

Last Shabbat, we also filled our sanctuary with the images of those taken captive. We continue to pray (in a way that sounds like a demand): Matir asurim— free all the captives.