By Emmy Rubin
Editor-in-Chief
On Sunday, February 4, 2024, dozens of members of the Jewish community gathered at Hampstead park carrying Israeli flags as well as posters of the hostages in Gaza. At 11:45, the group marched out of the park on their way to the Jewish community center, chanting “bring them home” between solidarity honks from passing cars. After thirty minutes of swishing blue and white flags across busy intersections escorted by police cars, the demonstrators gathered in the Kellert hall of the Jewish community center.
Standing in the stuffy room, the aroma of instant coffee permeated the air, the tension of despair and hope as palpable as the absence of the hostages still kept in Gaza. This sentiment was felt all the more with posters of the hostages lining the walls of the circular room, their gazes forcing one to contemplate what those eyes are gazing at now.
The initial speech of the Bring Them Home gathering was not so much a speech, but a recitation of the names of those held in Gaza. It was more than ten minutes before all of the names were read.
As Jews, our hearts are wrenched by the fact that our brothers and sisters are being held captive in unimaginable conditions. However, it is even more devastating when you are directly related to someone being held in Gaza.
Present at the gathering was the family of one of the hostages, Omer Shem-Tov. The family explained how unreal the situation is, stating solemnly, “Omer is the baby of the family. He turned twenty-one while being held hostage.” When hearing about the fact that Omer, an asthmatic, was not only denied his asthma medication from the Red Cross, but threatened by terrorists whenever his asthma caused him to cough, one’s heart could not help but break even more. This information, although devastating, instilled determination in the Shem-Tov family to continue to fight; for Omer, for the hostages, and for all of Israel when they stated at the end of their speech, “We need to stand together because no one else will do it for us.”
Following the testimony of the Shem-Tov family, Ysabella Hazan, the well-known Israel activist, took center stage. Having met with the Shem-Tov family in Israel, Ysabella relayed the most impactful moments she’d experienced, all of which stemmed from her conversations with omer Shem-Tov’s mother, Shelly.
Describing the act of reading tehillim with Shelly Shem-Tov, Ysabella stated that it was “one of the most marking moments of my life.” Ysabella went on to explain that this moment was so striking because even though she may not be able to speak to her son or any of the hostages, Shelly had stated that “no matter what, [I] know that when [I’m] reading tehillim, [I] can connect to that soul.”
The hope embodied by Shelly Shem-Tov, a woman whose child is currently held in Gaza, is nothing short of unbelievable. Instead of despairing at her son’s captivity, Shelly ingrained the sentiment, passed on by Ysabella that “we have to keep our spirits high in honor of the hostages” because “no matter what, Israel is the safest place in the world to be a Jew.” Fighting for the hostages and fighting for Israel are one and the same. When the Jewish community organizes rallies and events in honor of the hostages, we are saying that every Israeli, every Jew, has the right to live, to survive – to be brought home. And our home is Israel.
Ysabella closed her speech with a sentiment of frustration and zeal. “If a mother whose child is held hostage in Gaza can say that,” she said, referring to Shelly’s statements on Israel, “then you can tell your children on campus to wear their magen david. When we hide who we are, that is a short-term strategy… if we want our rights to be valued, we have to fight for our rights.” In short, we do not make positive change through positivity. No good is to be had by hiding one’s identity out of fear. The Jewish youth, especially those on university campuses, need to be empowered to be able to fight for their identity and homeland. Continuing her impassioned speech, Ysabella asserted: “We are not going to let people call our hostages on their posters ‘colonizers’. We are not colonizers to the land that we are from.”
As Jewish youth, it is our responsibility to educate, to empower, and to take a stand against hate. Instead of hiding from those that would falsely accuse us of being despicable for merely surviving in a land to which we are indigenous, we must take a stand – we must wear our stars like the badges of honor they are.
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