Rabba Anat Sharbat, the unofficial “rabbi of Hostages Square,” wept as she recited the Shehechiyanu blessing after lighting the candles to mark the beginning of Simchat Torah holiday on Monday evening, hours after all 20 living hostages returned to Israel.

Two years before, the same holiday had been marked by silence and fear after the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel ended celebrations across the country.

Before the plaza even became known as Hostages Square, Sharbat had established what became a ritual — Kabbalat Shabbat services and Havdalah every week, in her words, “out of a deep belief that there needed to be a space here for prayer,” not only for protest.

Faith, she said, had played a role in the hostages’ return.

“The prayers in the square were an integral part of the effort to return them,” Sharbat said. “We heard from hostages who came back that they heard and felt the prayers, and that it gave them strength.”

Last Simchat Torah, she faced uncertainty about whether to hold prayers at all. There was barely a minyan — the quorum of 10 needed for Jewish prayer — and dancing felt impossible. Still, she insisted on continuing “out of a deep belief in the need to maintain hope, together with the families, that their loved ones will return home.” That conviction was validated when Dvora Leshem, the nonagenarian grandmother of the hostage Romi Gonen, approached the small group that night and said she was glad the prayers were taking place. Romi Gonen would be released about three months later.

On this year’s Hebrew anniversary, a very different scene unfolded in the square. As evening fell, a few dozen men and women gathered for prayers followed by hakafot, the traditional Simchat Torah dances encircling the Torah scrolls. The crowd of dancers quickly swelled to more than 200, while onlookers filmed and applauded from the sidelines. Among them was a woman in a Bring Them Home T-shirt who recalled that less than two weeks before Oct. 7, the sight of public, gender-separated prayer during Yom Kippur services had filled her with “extreme anguish.”

“But today, let them dance,” she said. “We are all dancing, finally.”

But the joy was marred by the knowledge that not all the deceased hostages had returned. For some, that reality was impossible to reconcile with the scenes of jubilation. One man, wearing a T-shirt that read in Hebrew, English, and Arabic “We are all created equal,” shouted at the dancers while filming on his phone. “These religious zealots can’t just stand respectfully, they have to dance like animals,” he said.

By Wednesday morning, eight bodies had been brought to Israel for burial. Seven were identified as hostages, while the eighth did not match any of the 28 confirmed dead. Two more, both Israelis, were returned on Wednesday.

The tension carried into Tuesday night, when tens of thousands filled Hostages Square again for a second round of Torah dancing traditionally held after the holiday. The seven dances alternated between grief and gratitude, each dedicated to a different group, including the fallen hostages still in Gaza, those who had returned, reservists, and their families.

Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Chaim Goren said the event, organized annually by the municipality with Ma’ale Eliyahu Yeshiva and other national-religious groups, was originally meant to take place at a nearby plaza. “It felt detached to hold it there,” he said. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum agreed to move it to the square, though the decision wasn’t final until the last minute.

“There was back-and-forth until the holiday started about whether and how to do it,” Goren said. “With all the joy, there’s still a kvetch in the heart” — using the Yiddish word for ache — “but there’s also a deep need to give thanks to God for what we’ve witnessed.”

For Tel Aviv resident Sapir Barak, the night offered a release she hadn’t allowed herself since Oct. 7, 2023.

“When they announced the release yesterday, I basically had a nervous breakdown,” she said. “I was crying so much. There are so many emotions. It’s like a dream come true, but you don’t know what to do with it.”

Nearby, Henri Rosenberg cut an unusual figure in Hasidic garb with a fur shtreimel and a “Bring Them Home” dog tag around his neck, standing beside his grandson who wore a red MAGA baseball cap. But despite appearances, Rosenberg said he no longer identified as haredi Orthodox, having grown disillusioned by what he called indifference within some haredi circles to the pain felt by other Israelis during the war. Health problems had led him to attend a nearby national-religious synagogue over the High Holidays, where, he recalled, “the cantor wept for the hostages and the soldiers.”

“They are our flesh and blood, and that’s why I’m here tonight,” he said.

From the stage, Genia Erlich Zohar, aunt of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra — whose body remains in Gaza and who would have turned 24 on Tuesday — called on the crowd to respect the duality of the moment.

“We hold both joy for those who came home and hope and pain for those who haven’t,” she said. “We are one people, one heart.”

Miri Polachek, a friend of the Neutra family who has volunteered with relatives of the hostages, said she came to the event to support the Neutras and the other families. Recalling her own son’s playdates with Omer when they were children, she said, “It’s a never-ending reminder that it could have been any of our children.”

Among those on stage was Elkana Levy, a Golani Brigade officer who lost both legs in an explosion in Khan Younis. One of three brothers wounded in the Gaza war, he led a silent hakafa from his wheelchair and vowed that those “fighting day and night for the return of our brothers … would never break.”

At the edge of the square, a few dozen demonstrators held posters of those still in Gaza, chanting “Everyone, now!” — the familiar rallying cry for the hostages’ return.

Hagit Chen, holding “Gucci,” the small white dog that had belonged to her son, slain hostage and dual American-Israeli citizen Itay Chen, whose body has not yet been returned, called Monday’s release “a huge miracle,” even as she admitted her faith had been shaken.

“I was convinced Itay would be returning home yesterday with the others,” she said. Still, she added, the elation around her was not an affront. “I don’t look at joy that way. I embrace what’s happening here. We all need the strength it gives us.”

“But we cannot take our foot off the gas,” she said. “The deal is not a good one for the fallen hostages.” She pointed to what she described as the vague language of the Trump.-brokered agreement, which requires Hamas to make “all necessary efforts” to secure their release. “If we don’t see their return, it will be an open wound for all of us.”

Dani Miran, whose son Omri was among those freed on Monday, said Israel should halt the next stage of the deal until every hostage is accounted for.

“We should have resumed fighting at 1 p.m. yesterday, the moment we understood the 28 bodies weren’t coming home,” he said at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, where his son is receiving treatment. “[Hamas] will not understand anything else.”

Miran said he would remain in Tel Aviv, where he has lived since his son’s abduction, until the last hostage returns. He declined to say whether he would shave his long white beard, a vow he made to keep until Omri came home.

Activist and artist Hila Galilee, posed with Miran’s longtime partner, Galia Korel, while holding a mock yellow Torah scroll with images of the hostages. “The entire Torah is the hostages,” she said.

The question of what to do with the hostages’ symbols no longer has a single answer. Romi Gonen was filmed with friends tearing off the tape marking the number of days the hostages have been held, cheering as they did. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, who began the tape tradition for her son, slain hostage Hersh, said on Wednesday that she would continue to wear hers.

Hagit and her husband, Ruby Chen, criticized Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana for removing his hostage pin during President Trump’s visit to the Knesset. “It isn’t over,” Chen addressed Ohana in a video posted to social media. “Put the pin back on until the last hostage is back.”

After Trump announced that the living hostages would be returning home, Miran urged Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai to rename the site Returnees’ Square. But Hagit Chen said in an interview on Tuesday night that the name Hostages Square should remain until all are home.

In the square, posters of freed hostages have been taken down, some replaced by new banners, including one with Trump’s words, “Now is the time for peace.” Other features remain unchanged, including the mock tunnel evoking the underground passages where many hostages were held in Gaza and the digital clock counting the days and seconds since the attacks.

Miran, who had walked the one block from the hospital to the square, led the crowd in a psalm of thanksgiving. “Secular, religious — I hate these distinctions. All I see from up here is Jews,” he said from the stage. “Let’s stay like this. The nation of Israel lives.”

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If you’ve been a runner or spectator in the last year at the Jerusalem Marathon, the London Marathon, or the Sydney Marathon you may have spotted a man running in a Batman costume. On his first trip to Canada, the Jewish Caped Crusader will be running the Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Oct. 19 in memory of the two Bibas children, kidnapped and killed in Gaza in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Beneath the mask is Britain’s Yoel Levy. Known on social media as The Jewish Fitness Coach, the 26-year-old creates content for 330,000 followers to help them feel healthier, fitter, and to improve their mental health, especially since Oct. 7. 

On that day in 2023, Levy was at his parents’ home in Manchester when he found out on social media what happened in Israel. “It was such a bizarre way to learn about it, to see it unfolding on this medium,” he recalls. “I felt so much pain and so helpless.”

Recognizing that many others were also feeling low and isolated, a few days later Levy started providing mental health resources and posting more positive Jewish content. “There’s a lot of negative stuff on social media these days,” says the soft-spoken Levy, no relation to fellow Briton Eylon Levy, the former Israeli government spokesman. “So I always try to be a light in a dark time. I like to think that I can make somebody feel inspired and positive.”

Leading by example and seeking a new fitness challenge, Levy committed to training for his second marathon, the Jerusalem Marathon. The inflection point came the day after he registered: Feb. 26, 2025, the funeral for Shiri Bibas, 32, and her sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months. He had the idea to run the April race wearing a Batman costume, because Ariel was a huge fan of the superhero. A widely circulated photo shows the entire Bibas family wearing Batman-themed clothes at Purim.

(There’s even a Jewish connection. In a 2024 issue of the Batman-related DC comic “The Penguin”, Batman’s alter-ego Bruce Wayne explicitly references his Judaism, when he talks about his handkerchief being a Hanukkah gift from his father to his mother.)

When people ask Levy why he’s dressed as Batman, it gives him the opportunity to explain what happened to the Bibas boys and share a photo of them. Levy says he runs to create awareness and carry their memory.

“This is something the media hasn’t really covered; it’s been the Jewish media, for the most part. Because it’s related to Israel it’s not going to get publicized, so for many it’s their first time learning about the family,” he says. “It’s two kids who were both under the age of four and didn’t get a life to live. They didn’t do anything wrong and the world doesn’t seem to care.” 

In person, Levy has experienced only positive reactions, although he notes it felt unsettling seeing Palestinian flags on every street along the entire London Marathon route. Online, he has also received hundreds of messages from Jewish and non-Jewish people, thanking him for educating them about the Bibas family and October 7, and expressing their solidarity. He has also been sent lots of hate and death threats. 

Unfortunately, the vitriolic messages are not new to him. When Levy changed his social media moniker in 2019 from Live Well With Yoel to The Jewish Fitness Coach he was inundated with hateful messages and lost 800 followers. “And now more hate, but a lot more love!” he says.

While social media can be venomous, it has also connected Levy with good humans around the world, including Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband. Yarden, who was held for 484 days in Gaza, reached out to Levy “expressing his gratitude and appreciation” after seeing him run the London Marathon on social media. They met for coffee, along with Yarden’s mother Pnina, in July. 

“They are wonderful people. I feel like I was treated like part of their family, in the hardest years of their lives,” Levy says. “It’s not just one person who is impacted. Yarden has parents, aunties, cousins, and friends. On that day it made me realize that it’s so many people’s pain.”

The ripple effect of this family’s story reaches all the way to Sydney, home to Yarden’s aunt and cousins, who cheered on Levy at the August marathon. Because the paper photo of the Bibas boys that Levy carries in the race gets wet from water, electrolytes and sweat, he prints a new one for each race. The family laminated one for him, writing: “Well done Yoel! You are truly an inspiration!”

The Toronto Waterfront Marathon will be Levy’s fifth. While he’s not chasing a specific time, hopefully under 4 hours, he wants to make sure he’s in good physical condition to run the New York Marathon just two weeks later. 

Levy ran his first marathon at the age of 18 in London 2017 and vowed he’d never run another. This time it’s different. It’s for a purpose bigger than him, he says.

“I know how happy I’ve felt cheering on others in a race and I’m doing this because I want to give people something to cheer for, to uplift them, and to connect the Jewish Diaspora.”

To track Levy on race day on Oct. 19, visit www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com

The post Jewish Batman to run the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in memory of Oct. 7 victims appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

The United Nations is seeking a dramatic boost in humanitarian aid for Gaza, saying the hundreds of relief trucks cleared to enter the devastated enclave under a ceasefire were nowhere near the thousands needed to ease a humanitarian disaster.

Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and its top emergency relief coordinator, told Reuters in an interview that thousands of humanitarian vehicles must enter weekly to avert further catastrophe.

“We have 190,000 metric tons of provisions on the borders waiting to go in and we’re determined to deliver. That’s essential life-saving food and nutrition,” Fletcher said.

Israel’s two-year air and ground war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas drove almost all Gaza’s 2.2 million people from their homes, and famine is present in the north, global monitors say.

“GOOD BASE,” BUT NOT ENOUGH

Israeli officials said 600 trucks have been approved to enter the blockaded territory under the current US-brokered truce deal. Fletcher called that a “good base” but said it was not enough to meet the scale of need.

Fletcher called for over 50 international NGOs, including Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council, to be allowed to bring in aid, saying the issue has been raised with Israel, the United States and other regional partners.

“We cannot deliver the scale necessary without their presence and their engagement. So we want to see them back in. We are advocating on their behalf,” he said.

Fletcher said the looting of aid trucks – a frequent scourge while fighting continued – had dropped sharply in recent days as deliveries increased.

“If you’re only getting in 60 trucks a day, desperate, hungry people will attack those trucks. The way to stop the looting is to deliver aid at massive scale and get the private sector and commercial markets operating again.”

Fletcher welcomed the Western-backed Palestinian Authority’s offer to play a role in reopening the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to aid deliveries, expected on Thursday after a delay imposed by Israel over what it called Hamas’ slowness to return bodies of dead hostages under the ceasefire deal.

He said medical evacuations through the crossing would be a priority, citing recent talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He said that for the fresh aid efforts to succeed the ceasefire agreement must be sustained. “We need peace. That way we can massively scale up our operations. We need the world to stay behind this peace plan.”

Twenty remaining living hostages were freed on Monday in exchange for thousands of Palestinians jailed in Israel.