In a joint statement on Wednesday, Israel’s chief rabbis called on Jews worldwide to dedicate a special prayer to the remaining 59 hostages, both living and some who have been confirmed dead, held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as part of Passover seders this weekend.
“It is very difficult to celebrate the seder night while our brothers are sitting in darkness and death,” wrote the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, Kalman Ber, and his Sephardi counterpart, David Yosef.
The top rabbis urged the world Jewish community to say a prayer for the hostages “who cannot participate with us in this seder.”
Ber and Yosef suggested that supplications be added after the seder meal as part of the recitation of “Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that know You not,” at which time the gates of heaven are particularly open to prayer.
“May it be Your will, Lord of the Universe, that on this night of vigil and miracles, Your mercy will overcome Your anger. ... Just as You brought our ancestors out from slavery to redemption, so, too, may You appear for Your children who are held in captivity and deliver them,” they added.
Fifty-nine abductees remain captive in Gaza, according to official Israel Defense Forces data. At least 35 of them are believed to have been killed.
During a pre-Passover gathering in Givat Shmuel on Tuesday night, Ditza Or, the mother of hostage Avinatan Or, 32, told attendees: “The true meaning of Passover is not only in eating matzah, singing and reciting Kiddush. The real meaning lies in understanding that even today, we are part of the struggle for universal freedom. The Haggadah invites us not only to feel the slavery and the exodus from Egypt, but to take action.”
She continued, saying that “each of us can take upon ourselves a good deed for the hostages’ sake. Each of us can show kindness, behave with courtesy, light the way with a smile, with compassion, generosity and patience.”
Passover begins after sundown on Saturday, April 12, this year and continues through the evening of Saturday, April 19, in Israel, and Monday, April 20, in the Diaspora.
