This Shabbat is “Shabbat Gilad” (ShabbatGilad.com) and day schools and synagogues have signed on to a website designed by twelve year old, Ari Hagler. Ari’s innovative initiative is aimed at calling attention to the plight of Israeli MIA Gilad Shalit.
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted by Hamas on June 25, 2006, and is believed to have been held captive since then in an unknown location in the Gaza Strip. All requests by the Red Cross to visit Gilad Shalit have been refused by Hamas, in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human rights and the Geneva Conventions. Since Gilad’s kidnapping in 2006, a small and dedicated group of students have been meeting on Wednesday mornings at 7:45, opposite the Iranian Mission (40th Street and Third Avenue), to participate in our weekly “Prayer Vigil for Gilad,” please consider joining.
Rabbi Shlomo Stochel in this morning’s D’var Torah highlighted several aspects in Parashat Vayigash which are comparable to the abduction of Gilad Shalit. The Rabbi also gave us “chizuk,” when he reminded us of the happy ending, וינשק לכל אחיו. A sense of communal strength pervaded as he entire student body stood and prayed together,
אחינו כל בית ישראל הנתונום בצרה ובשביה.
Please visit the Friday D’var Torah Series to listen to Rabbi Stochel’s passionate message and also please click here to watch the video that Hamas sent in 2009 to Noam and Aviva Shalit, as proof that Gilad is alive.