Area teenagers rally for soldiers
Millburn High School students, from left, Carmel Gordon, Gabrielle Flaum, and Danielle Flaum participated in the International Day of Solidarity on Oct. 30 at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to call for the release of three Israeli soldiers kidnapped in 2006.
Photo courtesy Nancy Kislin
It has been almost 18 months since Hizbullah forces abducted Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev, and Gilad Shalit. But a group of local students has not let up on efforts to win their release.
Four members of Save Our Soldiers — comprising teenagers from Maplewood, South Orange, Short Hills, Millburn, and Summit — spoke before a crowd of more than 1,500 at the International Day of Solidarity on Oct. 30 held across the street from the United Nations in Manhattan.
"I call on you, the adults, you, the teens of my generation; and all future generations to never stand idly by injustice," said founding member Gabrielle Flaum in her remarks.
"These three soldiers represent three sons, three brothers, three friends," the Millburn High School senior told the audience. "They represent all people who are being held captive against their will…. Save Our Soldiers will continue to fight to bring these soldiers home."
The other local teens who spoke were MHS students Jeffrey Rayvid, Sam Cantor, and Jill Sobelman.
Flaum was 16 in the summer of 2006 when she visited Israel as part of a National Federation of Temple Youth program. Four days after her group's arrival, Hizbullah forces abducted Goldwasser and Regev; Shalit had been kidnapped on June 25.
Upon her return to New Jersey, Flaum and Cantor, then juniors at Millburn High and students at the Hebrew high school that met at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, organized several classmates to form SOS.
In his remarks at the rally, Rayvid described the group's formation and their meeting with former New Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco and Assemblyman Christopher "Kip" Bateman. Since then the group has mobilized Jewish agencies and legislators in support of their effort.
In May, said Cantor, the group testified before the State Government Committee of the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly. "We asked our representatives, representatives of the most powerful democratic country in the world, to help us stand up for social justice and let the terrorists know that it is wrong to kidnap free people," he told the gathering. "We urged them to pass a resolution mirroring UN Resolution 1701 calling for the unconditional release of the soldiers." That resolution passed in June 2007.
Flaum said her group has "proven to be a force that is successful in mobilizing teens, to become passionate about something that does not involve their immediate well-being. We have realized how important it is to stand up for what we believe in and never stop pursuing justice."
Over the High Holy Days, SOS sent letters to synagogues across the country requesting that three empty chairs holding pictures of the soldiers be placed on their bimas.
"The chairs signified the plight of the soldiers," said Sobelman. "We instructed each participating congregation to take pictures of the empty chairs."
The next SOS effort will be a campaign to urge companies to divest from Iran.
The Oct. 30 rally was organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization. Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of Ehud Goldwasser, spoke via teleconference from Jerusalem, urging supporters to send letters to the ambassadors of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran asking for the release of the three prisoners.
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