By Hadar Katsman, Features Editor
On October 13, 2025, the last 20 living hostages were released from Hamas captivity, bringing two years of anticipation and activism to a celebratory and tear-inducing end. Students at Yeshiva University shared in this nation-wide relief.
“Having all the living hostages back is a miracle and is like a weight from the past two years has been lifted,” Rina Muller (SSSB ‘27) told the YU Observer.
Two years ago, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, murdering 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. Over the course of the war, hostages have been released in several deals, and others were murdered by Hamas.
Bailee Schwartz (SCW ‘27) was at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv the day the remaining hostages were released. “I didn’t think it was going to happen,” Schwartz told the YU Observer about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. “I also felt like it’s been so long, it took you this long to do that?”
At the beginning of the war, one of the hostages Schwartz took on davening for was Ziv Berman, twin to hostage Gali Berman, both of whom were abducted from their home in Kfar Aza on Oct. 7. Schwartz said Ziv was the first released hostage flown over Hostages Square. “I just remember looking up and I didn’t have words. I can’t explain this feeling,” Schwartz said. “I didn’t even realize how much I fought for this to end until I stood in Hostage[s] Square.”
Schwartz was in seminary in Israel when the war broke out. She wanted to do as much as she could for her people, so she took action by volunteering at multiple army bases and packing food for soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon.
After a year and a half in Israel, Schwartz began YU and became very active in Israel advocacy, attending several rallies and protests for Israel. “My love for Israel grew, my love for Am Yisrael grew,” Schwartz said. “It really shaped me and without this entire war, I don’t know if I would be as tzioni [Zionist] as I am.”
YU has offered a lot of war-related programming since Oct. 7. The school brought in many prominent figures, including released hostages and parents of soldiers killed during the war. There were active Tehillim (Psalms) chats over the course of the war, as well as campus-wide Tehillim gatherings. YU also joined and promoted rallies, including the Israel Day Parade in Manhattan the last two years.
“I am grateful for the YU war-related programming,” Farrah Mashihi (SCW ‘28) told the YU Observer. “I think the seminars raise awareness to the students and faculty about the challenges of the war and the tragedies that people have faced.”
YU hosted annual Oct. 7 memorial events to commemorate the day with moving speakers and presentations. Mashihi was deeply struck when the Y-Studs a cappella group sang the Mi Sheberach prayer for the safety of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers. “I remember feeling emotional and moved by their voices in unison,” Mashihi said. “They echoed communal pain.”
Rebecca Henner (SCW ‘26), Torah Activities Council (TAC) President, began college a few weeks before October 7. “My entire experience in Yeshiva University was shaped by this historical time period,” Henner told the YU Observer. “Being a student in YU during this time allowed me so many opportunities to actively contribute to Am Yisrael.”
Henner attended rallies, met with congresspeople and traveled to Israel on YU’s Sacks-Herenstein Solidarity Mission. During her sophomore and junior years, Henner helped put up signs every day that counted the days since Oct. 7. With the recent release of the remaining living hostages coinciding with the beginning of her senior year, she removed their photos from the lobby after returning to Stern after the Sukkot break. She then put up pictures of released hostages reuniting with their families around a print out of Mizmor L’Todah (a thanksgiving prayer) and the words “hodu l’Hashem ki tov” (“give thanks to God for He is good”) and “veshavu banim ligvulam” (“and the sons returned to their border”).
“This war has given me a lot to reflect on in many ways, but specifically in thinking about the ways in which I can contribute to Am Yisrael, specifically in Eretz Yisrael,” Henner said.
Beren Campus Rabbi Azi Fine played a key role in the war-related programming and worked with YU student initiatives to ensure the war was always on students’ minds. When the hostage posters were taken down around campus, Rabbi Fine said it dawned on him that there were Stern students who were present when the posters went up and graduated before they could be taken down. No matter where people were on and since Oct. 7, there was “consistency” in “being a part of experiencing everything,” Rabbi Fine told the YU Observer about the efforts Stern students put in for two years. “I think that was incredibly meaningful.”
Oct. 7, 2023 and Oct. 13, 2025, the day the last living hostages returned home, fell out on almost exactly the same day on the Jewish calendar. Oct. 7 was Simchat Torah in Israel, and October 13, 2025 was the day before, and thus the day before the second anniversary of Oct. 7 on the Jewish calendar. The Jewish people came full circle, and the return of true joy and relief for Jews around the world this Simchat Torah was palpable. “It felt lighter, still full of complicated emotions, thoughts, and conversations,” Maya Yaari (SCW ‘28) told the YU Observer. “But the fact that our brothers and sisters were freed was a big relief.”
The past two years have taught Jews around the world how to hold pain and joy at the same time. When Iran sent a barrage of missiles toward Israel in October 2024, Stern students piled into the beit midrash to pray for the safety of those in Israel. Shoshana Schechter, Dean of Torah Studies and Spiritual Life at Stern College for Women, expressed regret that an hour later, after learning that almost no one was injured in the attack, they did not gather again to say Mizmor L’Todah. “We can’t just gather when things are hard,” Dean Schechter told the YU Observer. “Sometimes we forget the thanking part and that’s what I think we learned as a community — everything comes from Hashem.” As the Jewish community continues to be thankful for the release of the remaining living hostages and the bodies of others taken into Gaza, including the recently released body of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin that has been held since 2014, they also continue to wait and pray for the last remaining bodies to be returned for proper burial.
In exchange for the release of the last living hostages, per the United States’ 21-point plan, Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, many of whom were involved in terrorist attacks in Israel. “I don’t think we should have had to release criminals and terrorists in order to get back civilians,” Muller said. “But what’s important now is making sure that all the dead are returned, that the hostages and their families all have the proper care and support to recover, and that Israel stays unified, and that the IDF and police ensure the security of the State of Israel.”
Yaari, who was in seminary when the war broke out, recalled her Simchat Torah in Modiin, Israel when her uncle and cousins frantically arrived home from shul, telling her that hostages had been taken. “Over the past two years, the things that brought me hope and light was the learning I did in seminary, and tefillah [prayer],” Yaari said. “Experiencing things together with my seminary also infused more meaning and connection into these two years, and actually being in Israel during this time allowed me to really feel the achdus [unity] and power of our nation firsthand.”
During her two years of seminary in Israel, Yaari was dedicated to helping those who were in need during the war, both spiritually and physically. Yaari tied tzitzit for soldiers and volunteered on a farm that needed extra hands after losing workers over the course of the war.
While in Israel, Yaari received updates from her cousins who serve in the IDF and teachers who have family in the IDF. “I never felt the need to always read the news until I came back to the U.S after two years in Israel,” she said.
Not everyone was in Israel during the first two years of the war, though. A different form of support for Israel was provided from America through events, raising money for soldiers and families in need and activism.
“I think it was very hard living in America, living outside Israel, and watching things unfold that’s directly affecting our family in such a significant way and we’re 6,000 miles away,” Dean Schechter said. “We came together as a community throughout these past two years, gathering in the beit midrash to say tehillim, to sing, to daven, to figure out what we can do even though we feel a little bit helpless because we’re not there and we’re not actually fighting.”
A month after Oct. 7, on November 14, 2023, YU cancelled classes for the day and provided bussing for the March for Israel demonstration in Washington, D.C., which drew 300,000 people from across the country. “The activism started the second that we knew,” Betty Khirman (SCW ‘26), President of the Beren Campus Student Government (BCSG), told the YU Observer.
YU didn’t treat Oct. 7 and the war lightly. “It wasn’t just about ‘oh we’re going to class and yeah there’s a war going on in Israel,’” Khirman said. “We knew about it, we davened for it, there was not a second that we forgot about it.”
Anti-Israel protests arose soon after word of the attack on Israel spread. Protests and encampments sprung up on college campuses like Columbia, NYU and Cooper Union. Some Jewish students were afraid to attend class lest they be attacked, physically and verbally. “Me being able to walk into my university building and not have to hide the fact that I was Jewish but quite opposite be proud that I was Jewish and be open about the fact that I was Jewish, it was something that was super super eye opening,” Khirman said. “Us as individuals and as students have to lead the way for the individuals that cannot currently do that.”
Amidst volunteering, pro-Israel rallies, activism and prayer, YU and the Jewish nation have grown in their love for their Jewish brothers and sisters, and proved to the world they are not going anywhere.
“I have been inspired by stories of chayalim [soldiers], hostages, and everyday civilians who have put so much at risk for the protection of our nation,” Henner said. “I hope, Beezrat HaShem, that I can take this inspiration into the next stages of my life, following my time in YU, to truly make an impact.”
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University