A Shabbos B’yachad

MY wife and I spent last Shabbos at Jerusalem’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel together with close to a hundred relatives of Israeli Jews being held captive by Hamas. The event was hosted by Kesher Yehudi, and the fact that it took place at all is testimony to the potential results every time two Jews from across societal or religious lines reach out and connect with one another.

Two or three weeks after October 7, a video of Shelly Shem-Tov, the mother of Omer, shrieking (yes, shrieking) about the need for unity went viral. I have quoted her words before, but they are worthy of being quoted once again: “We are all brothers! Brothers! Unite. My Omer was not kidnapped stam. But because for an entire year, we have been warring with one another. Enough! Enough!”

When Tzila Schneider, the founder and director of Kesher Yehudi, saw the video, it struck a very deep chord within her, as she has made it her mission for almost 15 years to bring the religious extremes of Israeli society together around their shared heritage of Torah.

So Mrs. Schneider made her way to Tel Aviv to the headquarters of the parents of the captives, together with a handful of senior staffers of Kesher Yehudi, just to hug the mothers of the captives and express their support. The Kesher Yehudi staff did not know how they would be received, but they were greeted warmly and with expressions of delight that they had come, and were invited to come again.