Empty Shabbos Table Display Set With 242 Places on the Front Lawn of Town Supervisor's Office

by M.C. Millman

An empty Shabbos table display set with 242 place settings with flyers attached to each chair with the faces of all the hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza on October 7 was a poignant backdrop tonight to an event spearheaded by Chabad of Suffern and the Town Supervisor's office.

The display was open to the public, who arrived in droves to take in the eerie sight of a table set for so many hostages that only seeing it set out like it was can bring home the magnitude of the horror that has been ongoing for nearly a month now. 

While the table is set, the seats remain empty, and there is no one who can light Shabbos candles, make kiddush or hamotzei even partake of the suedah with family and friends. 

"We will have to do that for them," says Rabbi Shmuel Gancz, rabbi of Chabad of Suffern, who spearheaded the evening. 

The setup of this eerie scene joins the series of similar symbolic settings that have swept the world since the first such table was set up in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on October 20 followed by Times Square, Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Beverly Hills, and other locations around the world including Eretz Yisroel, London, Italy, and Australia. The empty table events are a worldwide push for the release of the hostages and a way to raise awareness through powerful symbolism. Tonight's program was a demonstration that Rockland County and the Town of Ramapo stand with Israel and have not forgotten the pain of the 242 hostages, their families, and all of Klal Yisroel.

The program for the evening included tefilos for the hostages and a round of Shabbas zemiros the hostages will be unable to sing. 

"We wanted to have an hour of prayer, song, and bringing in Shabbos while strengthening Jewish unity," Rabbi Gancz said. "Our goal with this event was to add our voice to others so that the media and the government and the people will pay attention. And spiritually, our goal with this program was to bring people back by having them leave inspired to bring more Shabbos into their lives as these 242 hostages cannot."

Program speakers included Rabbi Gancz, Town Supervisor Michael Specht, an uncle of four hostages who spoke for his niece, her husband, and his two great-nephews who were all taken hostage after the murder of his sister and brother-in-law by Hamas barbarians on October 7. The mother of an IDF soldier also spoke during the evening. 

"This is the worst hostage situation to have ever existed in the world with adults, holocaust survivors, women, children, and babies," Rabbi Gancz tells Rockland Daily, "Yet the world is standing by and letting this atrocity continue. Preparing for this event, looking into the eyes of the innocent babies on the flyers, and thinking of the horrifying moments they are experiencing is unfathomable. This gathering should happen in every single city, in every single town square until everyone is back home where they belong!"

For those who missed the event, the tables will remain set up through Friday afternoon.