Spreading Awareness

Empty Chair Campaign
Ask families and friends to take a photo of your family celebrating Shabbat, a family gathering, etc. In the photo, leave an empty chair (or 3) to symbolize the 3 missing soldiers. This is a very powerful image. Email this photo to saveoursoldiers8@gmail.com. It is our goal to have 10,000 photos to send the the families of the soldiers and the Israeli government.

Designate three chairs in your synagogue for the kidnapped soldiers. Three empty chairs will mark the absence of these three Jews from their families, but not from the hearts and minds of the Jewish community. Three empty chairs will symbolize our hopes for the geographical and national integrity of the State of Israel, missing at present. Three empty chairs will send a message to the three families that the Jewish people are with them in their dark hour. Three empty chairs will focus our attention on our obligations towards the people of Israel. Three empty chairs will remind us of the many lives interrupted by this conflict.

They may be designated with Israeli flags, or with banners printed with the soldiers’ names. Banners ought not to be black, as we hold every hope for the soldiers’ safe return. Congregations ought to consider when they will implement this symbol: will it remain in place until the soldiers are released or the situation is resolved? Ask your clergy if the chairs be displayed during Shabbat services and take a digital photo of your congregation’s Three Empty Chairs and email it to saveoursoldiers8@gmail.com.