Georgetown University community members mourned Israeli hostages killed in Gaza in a vigil and prayer service Feb. 20 in Red Square.
The vigil included speeches and prayers grieving for the hostages whose bodies Hamas returned to Israel earlier that day, including two young brothers, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and peace advocate Oded Lifschitz. University senior vice president and chief of staff Joseph A. Ferrara (GRD ’96) and other members of the administration attended the vigil along with around 20 students.
Talia Zamir (CAS ’25), co-president of the Jewish Student Association (JSA), a student organization fostering Jewish community, said the vigil provided attendees space for grief and solidarity in the face of heartbreak.
“It’s too much to bear these questions, so we bear them together, and the days tick by and we live in the same nightmare as we have to watch our people return home in boxes,” Zamir said at the vigil. “In the happiest embraces, there are pangs of sorrow, and today the sunlight is saturated in sadness.”
Hamas handed over the hostages’ bodies to Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement in which it pledged to release 33 of the 251 hostages it took during its Oct. 7, 2023 attack — in which its members killed almost 1,200 Israelis — in exchange for Israel freeing about 1,900 prisoners. Hamas has now released 145 hostages since the beginning of the war.
Zamir said the vigil was important because the unity of the Jewish community makes the events in Israel deeply impactful and painful.
“We are one people, and even if we don’t live in the same country, we are one and we feel as one,” Zamir told The Hoya. “I don’t feel like I have to deal with these things that I’m feeling alone, because I have a community to lean on, so I think it’s important to share that with other people as well.”
Georgetown’s Office of Jewish Life, the Georgetown Israel Alliance (GIA), a student organization celebrating Israeli culture, and Chabad Georgetown, a local Jewish affinity organization, organized the vigil alongside the JSA.
Ayelet Kaplan (CAS ’28), who helped organize the vigil, said the event celebrated the memory of the hostage and honored the lives they could have led.
“Their pure, innocent lives were cut far too short by unimaginable cruelty and evil,” Kaplan said during the event. “Ariel and Kfir, with your fiery orange hair and bright joyful smiles, I am so sorry we failed to bring you back alive, we failed to protect you. You had your whole lives ahead of you, and we will never, ever forget you.”
Full Disclosure: Ayelet Kaplan is a copy editing assistant for The Hoya.
Rabbi Ilana Zietman, the director of Jewish Life, said the vigil was one of many ways for students to express themselves and feel supported amidst the tragedy of the hostages’ deaths.
“In some ways, having clear moral convictions is the appropriate response, and in other times sitting in the not knowing and the sadness and the loss and the not being sure how peace will ever come is also important,” Zietman told The Hoya. “I think it’s important for people to process in the ways they need to.”
Mollie Sharfman, the Jewish chaplain-in-residence for Darnall Hall, said the vigil gathered the Jewish community together in solidarity.
“The main thing was to be together in a public space, to show our feelings, to represent the community here on campus, to know that we’re here and there’s such diversity on campus, and this is an integral part of the community,” Sharfman told The Hoya.
Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, co-director of Chabad Georgetown, said holding the vigil in Red Square showed public support for Israel and the Jewish community, especially in the face of rising antisemitism.
“It’s extremely important for the Jewish community to feel that they’re not excluded from public spaces, where they can stand up for the truth and what we believe in and for who we are, and not have to hide it or that it’s something to be ashamed of,” Shemtov told The Hoya. “So it’s extremely important for events like this to happen out in the open, so others can see, be part of it, and feel that they are able to openly support Israel, support the Jewish community, and be proud of who we are.”
“Let’s show the world that we’re not afraid,” Shemtov added.
Beyond students and staff members, university administrators including Ferrara attended the vigil.
Zamir said Ferrara’s presence at the vigil showed support from the university and was important to the Jewish community.
“It was really important for him to be there, and he has always made a point of showing up for us as a community, which I am incredibly grateful for,” Zamir said. “Even just being there, it was good to see, because it can feel really lonely sometimes.”
Zietman said she hoped the entire Georgetown community could come together in mourning and collectively heal from the conflict.
“My hope is that people here can see each other’s grief,” Zietman said. “No matter our differences on the politics of this, there’s so much grief, and to not see it really adds to the pain of this and won’t actually help us move forward as a community.”
“I want us to be able to look at each other and see each other’s humanity in this,” Zietman added. “That’s the only way we’re going to be able to move forward.”
Aamir Jamil contributed to reporting.
This article was corrected Feb. 21 to remove a factual error regarding administrators’ attendance.