Support for Israel
Seacoast vigil hears call for prayers from IDF soldier
NEWINGTON — An overflow crowd came together Tuesday evening at the Seacoast Chabad Jewish Center to offer prayers and active support for Israel and its people.
More than 1,200 people, including 155 soldiers, have died during and following Saturday’s attack from Gaza by the Iranian-supported terrorist group Hamas, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Retaliatory strikes in Gaza by Israel have killed 1,055 people, according to authorities there.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday again condemned the attack by Hamas, calling it an act of “pure unadulterated evil” and vowed full American support for Israel.
“People are wondering what will be,” said Rabbi Berel Slavaticki of the Seacoast Chabad Jewish Center. He suggested that instead, those who support Israel ask, “What can we do? Asking what can we do moves us to action.”
Actions the rabbi recommended included reaching out to friends and family in Israel and around the world to let them know you care. He said citizens and soldiers in Israel are asking for prayers.
One of those asking for prayers was an IDF soldier from the Seacoast who spoke to the group via a video service. His mother, who spoke at the vigil, said her son is the oldest of her three children and graduated from a local high school. He joined the IDF in January and completed basic training in July. He is an active combat soldier known as a Lone Soldier, a term used to describe roughly 7,000 soldiers serving in the IDF from other countries, many of whom do not have families to support them in Israel. His name and that of his family are withheld from this story due to safety concerns.
“Hello from Machpelah in Hebron where the patriarchs and matriarchs are buried,” the soldier said. “I just want to say, please pray for all those soldiers, all those families who have lost loved ones, who have had loved ones captured and held hostage by these terrorists . .... And pray for Emily who is serving with us here in Machpelah who we haven’t heard from since Saturday.”
The Seacoast IDF soldier, a dual citizen whose father is Israeli, would have been a senior in college this year, but
took time off from school after a family visit to Israel in 2022, where he became interested in joining the IDF, who he views as protectors, his mother said.
She described the feeling of her son serving in a war zone as “overwhelming.” “I have to be strong,” she said.
“I wish I could do more and I wish I could be there but I have to be here (for her two younger children), the mother said. “I just hope my son stays safe. He has a combat role and I'm aware they could move him to a more precarious position at any time.”
She said roughly 400 parents were on a Zoom call recently with an IDF leader who told them this war would not be like previous anti-terror operations in Gaza that often lasted days or weeks at most. Israel has called up 360,000 reservists and “he was preparing us for something long and difficult,” she said. The message mirrors Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public statements about a “long and difficult war.”
Other speakers at the local gathering included Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern, who said “when the worst happens, we rally together as a community.”
Those gathered were asked to bring home a prayer card, with information about each of the roughly 150 known hostages and to pray for their safety.
“We asked everyone to adopt a hostage until they returned home,” Slavaticki said.