Melbourne Jews gather to celebrate hostage release

Around 800 people gathered at Melbourne’s Jewish community centre, Beth Weizmann on Monday afternoon to watch a live stream the Israeli hostages being released.

The crowd watched on a large screen showing a live feed from Israel’s i24 network, erupting in cheers when Air Force One carrying President Trump landed at Ben Gurion airport.

Lexi Kowal, vice president of Zionism Victoria, which organised the event, told The AJN the timing was particularly significant as the community headed into Simchat Torah.

“It’s powerful for the community to come together with such auspicious timing to welcome home the seven hostages and mark this anxious moment and celebrate seeing the seven living hostages come home as we head home to hope for the remaining hostages to come home alive and safely,” she said.

Kowal described the atmosphere as one of mixed emotions, with relief palpable as the hostages returned safely.

“As we watched the seven come home safely, I think our relief came out through the crowd, and as we as Jews do, as music came through, I think our relief came through a lot more, and we were able to sing together and pray together,” she said.

While the mood was mainly joyous, some attendees expressed concern about the price Israel paid through the release of numerous terrorists as part of the deal.

Rabbi Shmuel Karnowsky of Central Shule led the crowd in an emotional reading of Psalm 121, Shir Hamaalot, drawing parallels between ancient and modern Jewish captivity.

“This is a Tehillim my friends, that was written over two and a half thousand years ago about captives, about those who were taken away from Zion, held by the Babylonians in captivity, tortured and taunted,” he told the gathering.

“Two and a half thousand years later, we are once again singing these words, coming back from captivity, all forty-eight back to Zion, back home to their families, back to where they belong together with us all with Am Yisrael Chai,” he said.

Speaking to the crowd, Kowal said waiting for the hostages’ to return has brought the Jewish community together.

“For so long the faces of the hostages have filled our dreams and our prayers. They have been our children. They have been our siblings. They have been our parents. Their pain and the pain of their families has become our own. We are one small nation, but we are one enormous family,” she said.