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Hope dies for LI’s lone soldier, slain on Oct. 7 Reach the Star: Editor@TheJewishStar.com • 516-622-7461 x291
Dec. 6–12, 2024 • Vayetzei • 5 Kislev 5785 • Vol 23, No 42
For The Jewish Star On Sunday, Omer Neutra’s mother pled for her son’s life, at a weekly rally for the hostages in Central Park. Since the day he was carried into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, there was hope that he’d return. Until hope died with an IDF annoucement on Monday that Neutra, a native of Plainview, Long Island, and a citizen of both Israel and America, was dead, murdered by Hamas during their Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state. He was 21 when he died. “For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy, with no physical sign
back from you — but with hope and love of so many, we kept going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet and every stage, pushing away any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence,” Omer’s mother Orna said at a memorial service on Tuesday in the Midway Jewish Center, a conservative synagogue in Syosset. “And now things are clear, but not as we hoped.” Mouners included family, friends, members of Neutra’s expansive community, prominent Jewish and elected officials, and Rachel Goldberg-Polin,
Omer Neutra z”l.
whose son Hersh was also kidnapped and killed by Hamas. People are expected to travel from a wide area to visit the family as they sit shiva at the Midway Jewish Center, through Thursday; the Riverdale Jewish Community Partnership chartered a bus to transport its members. Shiva will be completed in Israel. “The truth is that we prayed, and the truth is that we davened, and the truth is that we sounded the shofar to crash the heavens, and the truth is that we lit extra Shabbat candles,” said Joel Levinson, Midway’s spiritual leader. “And the truth is that we wanted a different end to this story.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul directed flags at all state buildings lowered to halfstaff following news of Omer’s death. President Joe Biden said American “hearts are heavy today” and that he was “devastated, outraged.” “Omer planned to return to the United States for college [he deferred his enrollment at Binghamton University],” Biden said, noting that he met less than a month ago with Omer’s parents at the White House. “He dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace.” “To all the families of those still held hostage: We see you. We are See Neutra on page 2
Trump warns Hamas: Free captives before Jan. 20
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By Andrew Bernard, JNS President-elect Donald Trump warned on Monday that if Hamas did not release its hostages before inauguration day, “those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America.” “Release the hostages now,” he demanded. Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said that there had been “all talk, no action” to free the captives so far. “If the hostages are not released prior to Jan. 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume office as president of the United States, there will be all hell to pay
in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity,” Trump said. Jerusalem believes that 97 of the 251 hostages taken during the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, remain in Gaza after 423 days. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Trump’s statement demanding the release of hostages came on the same day that the IDF revealed that Omer Neutra, an Israeli-American serving in the IDF who was previously thought to have been taken alive, See Trump hostage threat on page 2
President-Elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday with Sara and Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife and son. @YairNetanyahu, X
Ethiopian Jews mark Sigd with prayers for Jerusalem
Ethiopian Jews take part in prayers on the Sigd holiday at the Armon Hanatziv Promenade overlooking the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Nov. 28. Yonatan Sindel, Flash90
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday to celebrate Sigd, an ancient holiday that has taken on renewed meaning amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. The celebration, held annually on the 29th of the month of Cheshvan (50 days after Yom Kippur), saw worshippers converge on the Armon Hanatziv Promenade (which overlooks the Temple Mount from the south) and the Kotel for prayers and festivities. Sigd, which means “prostration” in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), has been observed by Ethiopian Jews, the Beta Israel, for centuries as a day to renew their covenant with G-d and express their longing for Zion. In Ethiopia, community members would ascend a high mountain to pray, symbolizing the giving of
the Torah at Mount Sinai. Now in Israel, the community continues this tradition with a focus on unity and cultural pride. This year’s prayers referenced the safe return of the hostages held in Gaza, including Avraham Mengistu, a member of the Ethiopian community. President Isaac Herzog, who attended the ceremony, emphasized the holiday’s relevance to current events, saying, “Our brothers and sisters have not yet returned home from Gaza. Their voices cry out to us from underground, reminding us that there is no greater mitzvah than the redemption of captives.” The day began with fasting and prayers, led by spiritual leaders known as kessim, who are parallel to the rabbis found in other Jewish See Ethiopians on page 2