Gaza hostages raise painful reminders as Jews prepare for Passover
Among the themes of Passover is freedom from captivity. For many Jews this year, the holiday brings up the pain of knowledge that hostages are still captive after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
At Sinai Temple in west Los Angeles, Rabbi Erez Sherman unlocks the sanctuary doors and walks toward row after row of seats marked off with blue ribbon. Each seat represents a hostage Hamas took during the October 7th attack on Israel.
"We decided to put names and ages on 14 rows," says Sherman, "which is about 240 seats."
The congregation has removed the names of those released. Still, more than 130 seats remain set apart to remember those who remain captive.
"This is
