A prayer vigil for the safe release of the hostages taken by Hamas

Prayers of peace and declarations of a shared humanity stood in contrast to darker expressions of anguish and retaliation.

“As we deal with the trauma of the events that have happened over the past month, we have to remember who we are - that the Jewish people... is defined by kindness, and by strength as well,” said Michael Fel, Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Providence. Rabbi Fel was speaking at a prayer vigil Wednesday evening in support of the more than 220 Israelis kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack. “Many parts of our liturgy speak of and end with the words for peace. The Amidah, recited three times a day, ends with a prayer for peace... The priestly blessing recited in the temple, recited as part of our liturgy, recited at weddings, and recited by parents to their children on Friday nights, ends with a prayer for peace, for shalom. When we finish our meals, the last thing we say is ‘We offer gratitude and a hope for peace in the world.’

“That is who we are and through,” continued Rabbi Fel. “What will take place over the next few months, I hope and I pray that we don't lose that aspect of who we are, that we are known as lovers of peace, that we pursue peace, that we do all that is necessary, even the difficult things, but always in the name of peace so that each of us can live side by side with our neighbors, each of us under our own vine and fig tree, appreciating each other, growing with each other and learning from each other and sympathizing and recognizing the humanity of those who live in our homes, in our neighborhoods and those who live beyond our borders as well.”

Around 600 people attended the service at Temple Beth-El in Providence, including elected officials like Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, as well as clergy from numerous faith traditions. The vigil included songs and prayers for the safe return of the more than 220 innocent civilians - including children, the elderly, and Holocaust survivors - who have been held for almost a month by Hamas. Organizers hoped that the event would allow the community, both Jewish and not, “to draw strength from one another and from prayer during this deeply troubling time.”

Toward the back of Temple Beth-El, over 220 seats were reserved - kept empty for the 200+ hostages. Rabbi Sarah Mack, the Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth-El, opened the event, observing that the empty seats are “no match for the space that we all hold in our hearts this evening. For tonight, we say to the hostages and to their dear ones, with our tears and with our prayers, ‘We have not forgotten you.’ …

“A Hasidic master once taught that there are three ways to mourn: to weep, to be silent, and to sing. In the past three weeks, we have shed many, many tears,” continued Rabbi Mack. “We have run out of words sometimes altogether, so this evening we raise our voices in song with the prayer of our hearts.”

The event was extremely dark at times. Omri Elmaleh, who lives in Israel but is doing post-doctoral work at Havard University, spoke about people he personally knew who became victims of Hamas. “The October 7th massacre has affected some of my good friends in a profound and devastating way,” said Elmaleh. He spoke of friends who escaped with their lives, and others who were killed without mercy, like Itay and Hadar Berdichevsky, who were murdered in front of their infant daughters.

“The terrorists ambushed [Hadar] and killed her on the spot,” said Elmaleh. “Itay tried to keep the door closed and protect the babies but was shot and left bleeding to death between the two baby cradles. The little ones remained crying and hungry for about 13-14 hours and the only reason for their survival was that the terrorists used them as bait to attract IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] soldiers. They were later rescued by the IDF and handed over to their grandparents for care. I've known Hadar since she was only five years old. [She was] so beautiful, quiet, and ambitious through her childhood and adulthood. In recent years she and Itay started their family in the kibbutz. A family that is no longer…”

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“God, you are peace and your name is peace,” said Rabbi Barry Dolinger of Congregation Beth Shalom, during the opening prayer. “It's taught in the Talmud that you created Adam as a solitary individual to remind us we're all descendants of one human family, all human beings created in your image. This is the most fundamental religious truth.

“May you grant us strength so that the cruel, horrific necessities of even just war do not harden our hearts or increase our enmity,” continued Rabbi Dolinger. “Your mercy and our prayers are broad enough to include so many Palestinians - hostages also of Hamas in their own way, their terrorist rule, and the utter chaos and destruction brought about by the absolute tragedy that is warfare. While now is a time of war, ultimately our prayers must always remain prayers for peace, peace that is just, mighty, and lasting for all inhabitants. May God who makes peace on high grant peace to us and to all Israel. Blessed are you God who releases captives.”

Despite the words calling for peace and declaring the shared humanity of all involved in this conflict, at least one speaker at the event felt differently. Ambassador Meron Reuben has served as the Consul General of Israel to New England since November 2020. In his words to those at the vigil, the Ambassador spoke little of peace or our shared humanity.

“Good evening everybody. Good evening I don't think it is. I have, as a person who doesn't remember his dreams when he wakes up in the morning, been living a nightmare for nearly four weeks. Omri's personal stories brought me to Abigale, but before I heard the personal stories, she's the one I've been mentioning so many times over the last few weeks because her story is so horrific. A three-year-old who saw both her parents killed, without her brothers, and kidnapped and taken to the other side of the fence by none other than monsters. The word human being cannot be used for the brutality, the mayhem, and the murder that happened on October the seventh…

“I do not like to do comparisons. But if you do compare it to the size of a country of the United States, it was as if 52,000 people were massacred,” continued Ambassador Reuben. “These are numbers that, as human beings, we are not capable of understanding. Only a few days ago you saw what one man with one gun is capable of doing. Just imagine over 1,500 people with much more than one gun coming across at 6:30 in the morning and going from house to house, killing, murdering, and raping. Yes, raping.

“Children killed in front of parents, parents killed in front of children. The worst story is one, well, not the worst, they are all so horrific... Another horrific story was [from] one of the terrorists who was captured and told his story of a family of three, father, mother, and baby. They killed one parent. They took the baby - [we] didn't know, of course, what had happened until the terrorist told [us] - they put on the oven and they put the baby into the oven, and then they killed the mother.

“To then come and ask us for proportionality is something that I find very, very difficult because I don't think anybody in the IDF is willing to rape, murder, [and] behead people on the other side, so there won't be. Stories coming out this evening on Israel show what we have been saying for decades - the terrorist group that we face and have been facing over the last 16 years across the fence, the border, the fence to the Gaza Strip, has no regard for human life.

“While the IDF was fighting, I think it was yesterday, it could have been the day before yesterday, I don't know, taking over a base of Hamas terrorists ... the soldiers were horrified to face some 100 women and children who were pushed out by the terrorists to face the oncoming Israeli soldiers as human shields.

“When you're dealing with a subhuman, I don't even know what you can call it, enemy, who has no regard for human life, there is unfortunately only one thing to do and that is to try and make sure that an organization like this never exists again, will never be able to raise its head and do anything like this again, and bring about its downfall.

“It's not going to be easy and it's not going to be short and it's going to very probably look even worse than it looks today. But I don't think the state of Israel can continue because what happened on October the seventh was not your garden-variety terrorist attack. It was something else - and the response has to be something else…”