On Sunday (14th January) a ceremony marking the 100 days since 7th October took place next to the ‘Garden of the Returning Hostages’ on Bar-Ilan’s campus. The event featured the reading of a poem by Anadad Eldan, a 99-year old resident of Be’eri who survived the massacre. Eldan wrote the poem 9 years ago in memory of his daughter who passed away. Today, the poem takes on a new meaning.
The Bar-Ilan Student Union led a campus march dedicated to the hostages. At the end, yellow balloons were released and prayers said for the safe return of all hostages.
At the Square of the Hostages in Tel Aviv, Bar-Ilan President and Chairman of the Committee of University Presidents, Prof. Arie Zaban, spoke to the families of the hostages:
“I stand here on behalf of 130,000 students of the research universities in Israel, 25,000 lecturers and 15,000 administration employees. 170,000 people have sent me to tell you – you are not alone. You are experiencing personal pain and endless worry, minute after minute, hour after hour, and we stand with you, worrying infinitely, weeping, embracing you, and above all, committed. This is our struggle, the fight of all of us. It is a personal, human, Jewish and national struggle. It is a struggle for the essence of the State of Israel for generations to come.”
Prof. Zaban recounted that on 7th October, his daughter, her husband and their two young children were locked in a shelter near the border.
“Ever since this horror occurred, we have all become one large family. The plight of the hostages does not allow us to be indifferent and continue with our lives. They could easily be our parents, siblings, our children, our students – and indeed, some of the kidnapped are our students. The campuses are not the same without them”.
