Israeli President Isaac Herzog hosted a gathering on Wednesday with the “Tefillin for Every Hostage” project, an initiative launched by Riki Siton and Julie Kupershtein, mother of hostage Bar Kupershtein, who has been held captive by Hamas for over 600 days.
Bar was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists while working as a security guard at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. On the morning of the attack, he remained on-site to help and provided first aid to wounded festival-goers until he was taken captive.
The initiative connects individuals who do not regularly don tefillin (phylacteries, used by Jewish men during morning prayers) and who volunteer to do so daily for a specific hostage, with tefillin donors and artists.
Each volunteer puts on tefillin daily for “their” hostage still in Hamas captivity, as a show of solidarity and to give hope to the hostages’ families.
Fifty-eight hostages remain in Gaza.
Across Israel, “Bar Tefillin” stations have been set up, each dedicated to a different hostage. This project is one of several initiatives that Kupershtein and Siton have led over the past year and eight months to support the hostages and their families.
At the gathering, participants included Bar Kupershtein’s family.
Orit, the mother of Almog Meir Jan, who was rescued from Hamas captivity in Operation Arnon, also took part, along with Siton, director of the “Havruta” project, a weekly joint learning program involving thousands of Jews nationwide.
Since the war began, the organization has also operated a prayer and study tent in Hostages Square, where hostage families and the general public come together in prayer and unity.
Rabbi Shlomo Raanan, CEO of Ayelet Hashachar, participated in the gathering as well. Ayelet Hashachar works to strengthen social cohesion in Israeli society through projects like synagogue-building in kibbutzim.
Also in attendance were project volunteers and tefillin donors, including two young students who raised funds for pairs of tefillin, and students from the ultra-Orthodox branch of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy, who presented artwork inspired by the project.
Thanking the participants for strengthening the nation’s spirit, Herzog said, “This is a very emotional and very special event. I wish for all of us to continue doing everything possible to bring everyone home—all of them, down to the last one.
“Let us cry out, demand, insist, tear open the gates of Heaven, and bring them home. May we see Bar return home—and all the others, some to rehabilitation, and tragically, some to be laid to rest in dignity,” he said.
Tal, Bar’s father, who became dependent on care following a car accident, has spent the past year undergoing speech rehabilitation.
“We learned about Bar’s abduction at 11:00 am, when the horrific video was published—showing him bound at the wrists and ankles, a cord wrapped around his neck. Even in that moment, Bar was shouting his name to the terrorists and pleading with them to help the wounded [Israeli hostage] Elkana Bohbot. That’s Bar—always putting others before himself,” Tal said.
Volunteers shared their deep sense of purpose and the strong emotional bond they’ve formed with the hostages and their families through their participation in the project.
Julie, Bar’s mother, said: “We have been blessed to see such powerful unity among the people of Israel. This sweet nation rose up so beautifully in response to October 7. Sadly, we went through what we went through, but out of the darkness, we are growing.
“This event is truly Bar’s event—and of his new brothers and sisters who are still in deep darkness, yet shining light into the world from there. When the terrorist called to threaten me, I told him: ‘My Bar is not in your hands. He is only in the hands of the creator of the world, even when he’s in Gaza.’ That’s how I feel, always,” she said.