Families to hold Passover Seder at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, ask public to join

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum invites the public to join them for a Passover Seder in solidarity with captives’ relatives at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

“How can we sit at the Seder table and tell the story of our journey from slavery to freedom while 59 of our brothers and sisters are still held captive by Hamas?” a statement by the group reads.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday evening, on Passover Eve.

Karina Ariev, who was released in January as part of a ceasefire deal, urges the public to “leave an empty chair for the hostages and do not forget them” at their Passover Seder.

“I am addressing you now, just days before Passover – the Festival of Freedom – and thinking about all our brothers and sisters who have not yet returned. I think about them, and I think about us because until they return, none of us can truly be free,” she says in a video message.

“During the Seder, we read the verse ‘In every generation, a person must see themselves as if they personally left Egypt,’ and this meaning changes after experiencing captivity,” she adds. “Although I am here, my heart is still there. There are still 59 hostages waiting for their freedom holiday, waiting to be brought home.”