Israeli hostages: Photos of installation with empty Shabbat table at Judenplatz in Vienna

2023-10-27 14:54:29

BRING THEM HOME NOW campaign also in Austria. Empty Shabbat table for 229 hostages in downtown Vienna.

Vienna (OTS) – (Photos in the link at the end of the text) On Friday, October 27th, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., a Shabbat table will be set up for the 229 hostages in downtown Vienna. An empty table for the 229 hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
This installation is carried out as part of the Israeli initiative “Hostages and Missing Families Forum – BRING THEM HOME NOW”. We want to draw attention to the Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip. Last week, a Shabbat board with 229 empty chairs was set up in front of the Tel Aviv Museum to commemorate the people abducted from Israel by Hamas – women, children, the elderly, the sick.

The installation is organized by civil society actors from Vienna’s Jewish community, in cooperation with the international network “Hostages and Missing Families Forum”, which was founded 24 hours after the Hamas attack in Israel. As part of the initiative, Jewish communities around the world are organizing actions, most recently in London, Rome and Paris. This is intended to draw attention to the unbearable situation of the kidnapped family members.

Immanuel Turkof, organizer of the Austrian BRING THEM HOME NOW initiative, explains the intention of the campaign: “Through the installations we want to draw attention to the kidnapped Israeli civilians. The empty chairs at the Shabbat tables represent the great suffering of their families and friends. Every week on Shabbat, the entire family comes together to eat together and begin the day of rest. We hope with all our hearts that the shared Shabbat will soon be possible again for the many torn families.”

The writer and historian Doron Rabinovici explains: “’Shabbat Shalom’ is the greeting with which we, Jews, greet each other on Fridays. We wish each other ‘a peaceful Shabbat’, but that won’t exist for us as long as the 229 hostages cannot celebrate it with us and are missing from the Shabbat table.”

Link to the photos: ©JOEH/ Ouriel Morgensztern