{"id":87278,"date":"2025-04-11T14:10:37","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T19:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=87278"},"modified":"2025-04-11T14:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T19:10:37","slug":"for-a-second-straight-passover-jews-mark-festival-of-freedom-while-hostages-remain-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/for-a-second-straight-passover-jews-mark-festival-of-freedom-while-hostages-remain-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"For a second straight Passover, Jews mark Festival of Freedom while hostages remain in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Last Passover, Agam Berger marked the holiday in the small, dim room in Gaza where she was being held hostage. With her fellow soldier Liri Albag, she used a makeshift haggadah to recount the story of the ancient Israelites\u2019 exodus from slavery in Egypt.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_87279\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-87279\" class=\"wp-image-87279 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-300x167.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-300x167.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-1024x569.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-768x427.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-1536x853.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-2048x1138.webp 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-87279\" class=\"wp-image-87279 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-300x167.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-300x167.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-1024x569.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-768x427.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-1536x853.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_6365-scaled-e1744389873745-2048x1138.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-87279\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Asufa haggadah for 2025 includes multiple images showing empty yellow chairs at seder tables, symbolizing the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza. (Philissa Cramer)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Yarden Bibas, meanwhile, reminisced from where he was being held captive about the joyful celebration his family had once enjoyed, clinging to hope that he would be reunited with his wife and children by this year\u2019s holiday.<\/p>\n<p>All three were released during a two-month ceasefire earlier this year and are marking Passover\u2019s arrival by calling for the dozens of hostages who remain in Gaza to be freed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I will celebrate this holiday with my family, it won\u2019t yet be full,\u201d Berger wrote in an essay published in the Wall Street Journal. \u201cThere are 59 hostages still held in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. This is their second Passover in chains of iron. We can\u2019t allow a third.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bibas returned to the devastating news that his wife and young sons had been murdered in captivity. \u201cI am here and so thankful for this but am struggling to celebrate when I still haven\u2019t processed what I have lost and when I know that David is still in a tunnel,\u201d he wrote Friday on Instagram, referring to his best friend David Cunio, who remains a hostage.<\/p>\n<p>The holiday arrives amid renewed fighting in Gaza and few signs of an impending deal that might result in the release of the remaining hostages. While President Donald Trump said on Thursday that negotiators were \u201cgetting closer\u201d to such a deal, CNN reported this week that the pace of talks has slowed since Israeli officials retook the lead from U.S. officials.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Jews worldwide are preparing to leave seats empty at their tables to symbolize the hostages\u2019 plight, or share the stories of hostages during their seders, for the second straight year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery abductee has a family that sits around the table on the night of the seder with tears in their eyes and a broken heart,\u201d wrote Shir Siegel, whose father Keith was released in January, on Instagram as she encouraged others to set a place for a hostage.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_87280\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-87280\" class=\"wp-image-87280 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-87280\" class=\"wp-image-87280 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Keith_Siegel_release-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-87280\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Siegel, center, is subjected to a humiliating public showing by Hamas prior to being released on Feb. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere are small things that families and friends do that will make them feel that they are not alone. And this is perhaps the greatest thing we can do for them,\u201d she wrote, noting that her family would be setting a place for Nimrod Cohen, a soldier captured from his tank.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen\u2019s mother Viki is the illustrator behind a new children\u2019s haggadah that incorporates symbols of individual hostages \u2014 the released, the living and the dead. It\u2019s one of several projects meant to bring the stories of the hostages to the seder table, including a new haggadah produced by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main advocacy group for hostages and their families.<\/p>\n<p>A haggadah produced annually by the Israeli artists collaborative Asufa, meanwhile, does not focus on the hostages but alludes quietly to them nonetheless, with two images of seder tables showing yellow chairs like those used in Tel Aviv\u2019s Hostages Square and beyond to symbolize the hostages.<\/p>\n<p>For dozens of families who learned since last Passover that their loved ones had been killed on Oct. 7 or in captivity, this year will be the first to mark the holiday with dashed hopes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can we celebrate such a holiday while 133 people are still without their freedom, still waiting to be liberated?\u201d the grandson of one such hostage, Chaim Peri, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last year. In June, Peri was revealed to have died in February; he was buried in Israeli in August after his body was retrieved.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_85279\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Picture1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-85279\" class=\"wp-image-85279 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Picture1-e1744394600752.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"175\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 250px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 250\/175;\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-85279\" class=\"wp-image-85279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Picture1-e1744394600752.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"175\"><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-85279\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Goldberg-Polin speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something perverse about even going through the motions of celebrating a holiday of freedom from captivity when our only son is not free and is in the worst form of captivity that any of us can imagine. It feels completely inappropriate,\u201d Rachel Goldberg-Polin said last year. Her son Hersh was killed in captivity in August.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Goldberg-Polin spoke about Passover on a podcast hosted by Dan Senor. \u201cI think this year there is one question and one question only, which is: Why are they still there?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She alluded to a tradition practiced by some Jews to flagellate themselves with green onions at the seder to mimic the whipping endured by the ancient Israelites.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have actually an obligation this year to really beat ourselves up at the seder, because the whole point of Passover is it is supposed to be a commemoration of leaving the worst form of bondage and slavery that we ever experienced,\u201d Goldberg-Polin said. \u201cAnd how can we do that this year when we know that there are 59 people who are still there, 24 of whom are alive \u2014 alive and in the worst, most horrific bondage that we can picture? How?\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"For%20a%20second%20straight%20Passover%2C%20Jews%20mark%20Festival%20of%20Freedom%20while%20hostages%20remain%20in%20Gaza\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":87279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8382],"tags":[14576,663,2234,8781,8790,8795,8788,2175],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87281,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87278\/revisions\/87281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}