Chaverim y'karim - dear friends,

 

The story of Hostage Square is emblematic of so much of what has happened in Israel since October 7, 2023. Allow me to start at the square's life in the "before times."  

 

Located in Tel Aviv on Shaul HaMelech (King Saul) Blvd. in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Hostages' Square (Kikar HaChatufim) got its name soon after October 7, when families of the hostages and their supporters started to camp and gather there because of its proximity to the Israel Defense Forces headquarters across the street.  

 

In its earliest months, a variety of exhibits were curated at Hostages Square, with the first one in mid-October 2023 called "The Empty Shabbat Table." This display symbolized the large number of hostages who would be missing from the Shabbat table with their families — a chair for each hostage, and highchairs to remind the world that even babies and toddlers were kidnapped. 

 

The table changed as time progressed. Initially set as a pristine beautiful Shabbat dinner table, later in the year, half the table was set with a small place of pita, white cloths were removed, and dirty cups with dirty water placed at each setting to emphasize that the hostages were being starved and mistreated.

 

In those opening several months, many artists contributed art work to the plaza and the Tel Aviv Museum and municipality officially renamed the Square in January 2024 "Hostages and Missing Persons' Square."  

 

March 2024

 

Amy and I first visited Hostages Square in March 2024, just five months after the war began. Our visit was incredibly depressing — and yet not entirely. There were so many creative expressions of grief and worry and yet they were accompanied by hope and peoplehood. I remember thinking to myself “what kind of people uses such a sophisticated art installation to express their grief and their rage?” I felt that our people were united in a deep and profound concern for the hostages and their families. I was both profoundly sad and incredibly proud of how Israelis were expressing their agony.

 

I remember one installation that had 220 little mirrors that were arranged in a semicircle. The artist's point was so obvious — any of us could have been taken hostage. Like the haggadah's reminder that "every person is to see him/herself as if they have personally come out of Egypt," this art installation reminded us that the plight of each hostage is the plight of each and every Jew throughout the world.

 

One of the starkest art installations that I saw in March 2024 was a simulation of a Hamas tunnel in Gaza. As we walked through the dingy, dark, dirty, and terrifying tunnel, we heard recorded sounds of bombings, guns, and footsteps. While the tunnel in no way simulated the horrific conditions that the hostages face daily — it was a reminder to all Israelis that the tunnels represent pure evil and that our brothers and sisters are literally suffering a slow and painful demise because they had the misfortune to be abducted by the hands of sheer evil. That tunnel remains and is just as brutal and difficult to experience as it was the first time I walked through.

 

Since that first visit to Hostages Square in March 2024, we went again in May 2024 and then in December 2024. Each time, we saw alterations and changes. Some art was removed while new material was brought in; kibbutz tents were moved, enlarged and then made smaller; installations were contracted, moved, or removed. 

 

Hostages Square in May 2025

 

Our group visited Hostage Square on the very first day of our trip. Somehow, my experience felt very different. Most of the art is gone. Many posters have been removed. Pictures are fading and "updates" indicate hostages who are home safe and those who have been returned in caskets ... and those who remain. It is palpable: The weight of nearly 600 days of horror and hell, of countless rallies and demonstrations on that Square, and of unfulfilled hopes and aspirations. Where the art went, I have no idea. Where was the Shabbat table that was turned to a Pesach table that was turned to a Sukkot table ... and turned to a Pesach table again? It's gone. 

 

I was sad not about the changes but for the 59 hostages who remain. I was enraged because President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu throw around shrinking numbers of those left alive with callous disregard to the larger reality and to the families of the hostages. I was sad because for all the stickers, banners, posters, pins, songs ... 59 hostages remain in Gaza. I feel so violated when I stop and think that only Jews have to see their loved ones used as pawns dead or alive on the world stage, manipulated by a vicious terror group and by our own politicians.

 

Israelis are weary and the Netanyahu government continually fails to embrace the hostage families. Despite what Eli Sharabi says, the hostages have become a sign of politics. Sharabi is one of the hostages who returned home only to find his family with painful holes where once there was life. He said of the hostages, "This is not about the right and it's not about the left - it's about what is proper!" The picture above is a banner with Sharabi's quote beneath an incomplete spelling of the Hebrew word "Atzmaut - Independence" and the wording reads, "Independe__ is not complete until they all return."

 

There was one sculpture that stood out poignantly: The State of Israel all bound up. As I looked at this sculpture my heart ached because the artist conveyed the painful reality that Israel is in deep trouble. I couldn’t help but ask myself: Is this a story about the binding of Isaac, of Israel, of the hostages? Next to the sculpture is a yellow piano - one of a hundred - placed around the country for Alon Ohel, a gifted musician who was brutally taken hostage by Hamas. During our hour at the square, we saw several young men come to play - you can hear one here. 

 

To gain some more perspective about just how serious things are in Israel I encourage you to listen to my teachers Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi in their latest episode of For Heaven’s Sake.

 

I fear that Hostage Square has shifted - for me, anyway - from being a place of inspiration to one of perseveration. There is repeated effort to bring the hostages home - but the goal seems to get further and further from possible. I worry people will forget. The slogan that we see most often now is "Don't leave me behind" as opposed to "Bring them home, now!" Neither slogan is great as it puts the onus on Israel whereas we should never forget that it is on Hamas to LET OUR PEOPLE GO!! Regardless and worse: It is becoming more difficult to find the places where Israel is unified in its effort facing a common enemy.  

 

And so I have to look further - and indeed, that has been a major focus of our trip as we consider "How the StartUp Nation ReStarts." 

 

On to the Lebanon Border

 

We visited Kibbutz Hanita at the northern border with Lebanon this week. The good news is that we were able to go there. A year ago I never would have dared to travel so far north. At that time Hezbollah was showering rockets with great regularity and visiting that kibbutz would have been dangerous and foolish - and illegal as it was under IDF control. But now it is different.

 

Nearly 60% of the kibbutz has returned - many of those who have returned are families with children. They are hopeful even more will return at the end of the school year in June though they are not sure. There is much work to be done as Hezbollah's attacks wreaked havoc on many structures, on fields, and on lives. While the threats are low, the residents' (or former residents') sense of security is also low. We met a remarkable man, Ya'aki, who is the head of the recovery and restoration team. He met us with a wide smile, large gun, and honest approach. The future is uncertain but his goals were clear (and replicated by many others whom we have met): to bring the hostages back and to rebuild. 

 

On October 7, 2023, Ya'aki and his wife and their three children were in Paris. He was the chief of El Al Security at De Gaulle Airport. They had been there for about three years and his kids were enjoying the American School. Within days, his children insisted they return home to Israel and so ... by the winter, they were back. They moved to Nahariya (on the coast near Hanita). Once the military allowed for the return a few months ago, they began preparations to come back and help others do so. 

 

Absolutely everyone we met was so grateful to us for coming to stand not just with but literally IN Israel. And absolutely everyone we met disagreed with the current government’s policies. But they are proud Israelis and will do anything to ensure that Israel survives this horrific ordeal. And it is so clear that Israel is building and rebuilding. For decades, the joke of "What is Israel's national bird? The crane (meaning a building crane)" has been around. But never like it is true now! And buildings are from 25-70 stories ... it is remarkable. But it is the rebuilding of lives and strengthening communities that matters most.

 

Our efforts are critical in showing support in whatever way we can because Israel is not just a project for Israelis. It is for the Jewish people and all who believe in liberal, Western values. 

 

I will follow back around with recommendations on how you can connect with and support some of the outstanding groups with whom we have connected - groups who are working in educational, environmental, emotional, and/or economic spaces. 

 

Lastly, it has been so good to see how vibrant life remains here even among all of the difficulty and loss. The Jewish spirit is strong, thank God. But the soul of our people needs all the encouragement we can give it. Giving strength to the Jewish people comes by making our own Jewish homes and synagogues out in the Diaspora strong as loving, learning, and engaged Jews. Israel is a huge part of our people's story - but so is New Milford. Their global impact are remarkably different ... and yet each plays an important part in the shape of the Judaism and connection to the Jewish world we each define for ourselves. And in that way, our own decisions and choices have a local, a global, and, dare I say, cosmic impact. May our actions prove beneficial and supportive of our people and the land of Israel. 

 

Wishing everyone a Shabbat shalom and I look forward to our special shabbat together next week, May 16 - make sure to sign up for a delicious dinner at 5:30pm and we'll have services at 6:30pm. Remember - in the vein of "just show up" - you can come 'just' for dinner or 'just' for services or even 'just' for oneg - we'd love to see you whenever!! 

 

Bivracha, with blessing, 

 

Rabbi Mark Cohn, 9 May 2025

(co-written with Rabbi Amy Wallk)