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Hundreds of students attended a “Peace Vigil for Israel” hosted by Syracuse Hillel and Chabad House Jewish Student Center outside Hendricks Chapel Wednesday night to honor those who died in Israel following Hamas’ attack on Israel Saturday.

The vigil included speeches and prayers from Hendrick Chapel’s Rabbi Ethan Bair, Director of Syracuse Chabad Rabbi Mendy Rapoport and students from SU’s Jewish community. Similar events have been held at college campuses across the country, such as the University of Rhode Island and the University of Michigan.

Bair said it is important now for the Jewish community to come together and pray for peace in Israel.

“As a rabbi, I constantly am in the tension of the particular and the universal,” Bair said. “There are moments when we need to lean into our own particular communities and give space for them, and there are moments when, like the UN, we can pray for world peace and lean into our universal values.”

Bair also warned Jewish attendees not to show bigotry, but to show an extra level of kindness to one another throughout the next few weeks.

“Tonight was important for the Jewish community to come together, in unity and solidarity, and also in kindness and compassion. And, just to remember that, just because our community is struggling a lot, we’re also not the only community that’s struggling, and to extend that compassion to others as well,” Bair said.

Mia Gottesman, a freshman at SU who has family and friends in Israel, worked with Syracuse Hillel and Chabad to plan the vigil. Gottesman spoke about her personal experience on the steps of Hendricks Chapel.

“Seeing my friends get posted on social media because they’re missing was terrifying, watching videos of my friends running and hiding out in bomb shelters was gut-wrenching, receiving texts from friends saying ‘I’m going in, I love you, I will be back,’ was and still is terrifying,” she said.

On Saturday, Hamas launched an attack in Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking approximately 150 people hostage, including some United States citizens. Israel declared war on Hamas on Sunday in response to the attack.

Hamas is a militant group that is currently governing the Gaza Strip, although Palestine has not had a parliamentary election since 2006, before much of the current population would be able to vote.

Since the attack, Israel has responded by bombarding the Gaza Strip and putting the territory under siege while shutting off its electricity, according to NPR. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”

President Joe Biden on Wednesday called Hamas’ assault against Israel the “deadliest day” for Jews since the Holocaust.

There are no reports of SU students, faculty or staff in the area being “in harm’s way,” according to a Monday campus-wide email from Chancellor Kent Syverud.

“This ongoing, complex, and escalating conflict will affect members of our community, here on campus and abroad, in deeply personal and lasting ways,” Syverud wrote in the email. “I ask every member of our community to extend kindness, respect, and compassion to those who are suffering and grieving.”

SU’s Student Association condemned Hamas’ violence in Israel in a Wednesday email. SU has approximately 2,500 undergraduate Jewish students and 500 graduate Jewish students, according to Syracuse Hillel.

“We, the Student Association, stand for all humanity and peace, and we condemn the violence against innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians,” SA President William Treloar wrote in the email. “We must promote unity in our campus community through recognizing the humanity in both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Griffin Uribe Brown | Staff Photographer

While seven spoke at the vigil, there were also moments of silence and prayer. Students spoke out about their personal experiences following Saturday morning and how their families are moving forward.

Tal Yechezkell, Israel co-chair for Syracuse Hillel, said one of his friends is an Israeli soldier who has gone missing on the frontlines.

“I’m an Israeli citizen, first and foremost.” Yechezkell said. “I’m a Jew, I have friends and family in Israel. I have a friend on the frontlines who has been kidnapped and I’m praying for his survival and to return home safely.”

Emma Burke, the other Israel co-chair who spoke at the vigil, said she attended in honor of the lives lost including one of her own friends. She said the vigil was an important sign of unity within the campus community.

“Even in these dark times, people are willing to put their differences aside and come together to support the Jewish community and their friends in times of need,” Burke said.

All the speakers at the vigil underscored the importance of unity and positivity, calling for a continued sense of community in SU and beyond.

“Just as we all feel the pain that the Jewish people feel over there, the opposite is true as well. The positivity that we have here will be felt there,” Mendy said.

Beyond those who spoke at the event, hundreds of other students in attendance also had personal connections to the attack.

“I’m here because my two best friends from my childhood are in Israel right now fighting to protect our homeland and our people,” said Sophie Katz, a sophomore in SU’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

Mariana Godinez-Andraca, a junior studying public relations and psychology, said she came to the vigil in support of her Jewish friends and people in Israel.

“It breaks my heart seeing so much violence going on in the world and this is the best thing I can do besides donations to show my support from so far away,” Godinez-Andraca said.

Adrian Levi Mazin Tassani, a student originally from Spain, described the vigil as a way to feel closer to home. He said since he could not feel the comfort of his family during this time, he came to the vigil to spend needed time with the Jewish community.

Dylan Weintraub, a senior studying Television, Radio and Film at SU, said he has family in Israel and has felt pain resonate on campus. Weintraub said he was grateful to see the amount of support on campus through Wednesday’s vigil.

“Without a doubt, if we don’t support each other, you’re not one as a campus,” Weintraub said. “This is the most important time together as a student body.”

Published on October 12, 2023 at 2:27 am

Contact Samantha: saolande@syr.edu