NIR OZ, Israel — An American family has donated a Torah that survived the Holocaust to relatives of a family whose members’ fate remains uncertain after they were taken hostage by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack on their kibbutz in southern Israel.
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Members of the Bibas family abducted from Nir Oz, along the Gaza border, include 11-month-old Kfir Bibas, his older brother Ariel, who is 4 years old, their mother Shiri and their father Yarden. Hamas has claimed the two children and her mother were killed in an Israeli strike. The Israeli military said it was investigating the claim.
“Ariel, Shiri, Kfir, we wait for your return here,” said Eli Bibas, the children’s grandfather, during a gathering held in front of their house on Wednesday where they received the Torah from a group of Jewish New Yorkers.
Around 20 residents of Nir Oz were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and some 80 were taken hostage out of a population of 400. Those seized from the kibbutz ranged from 9 months to 85 years old at the time they were taken. More than half were women and children.
Shira Hoschander from New York said her family dedicated the Torah to the Bibas family on behalf of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in New York to show support for the community hit by the attack.
“I pray for them and their safe return every single day, and the safe return of every single one of the hostages that are still held in captivity,” Hoschander said.
Hamas released over 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong cease-fire in November. Nearly all the people freed on both sides were women and minors. Talks on further swaps broke down and roughly 129 hostages remain in Hamas captivity.