The Lehigh Valley Jewish community joins with Jews around the world to offer our prayers, thoughts and solidarity to the families of the three boys kidnapped in Israel on June 12.

Recognizing the expressive need of Jews in times of despair, the Jewish Federation and the Lehigh Valley Clergy Group encourage our Jewish community to come together this Shabbat at the synagogue of your choice. All synagogues will be offering special prayers and readings for the safe return of the kidnapped teens and for peace. See the Community Directory for service times.

We also encourage you to take additional actions to express your support for the release of the three teens.

1. Until the teens are safely released and home with their families, light an extra Shabbat candle on Friday night and have in mind the names of these teens:  Eyal ben Iris Teshurah, Gilad Michael ben Bat Galim, and Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah.
2. SIGN this Letter of Unity to the families of Eyal, Gilad and Naftali.
3. WRITE or FAX a letter to our elected representatives. Talking points for your letter are below. 
4. DOWNLOAD and SHARE a picture of yourself with the #BringBackOurBoys sign; include @JFedLV on Twitter, and add a link to our Facebook page here.
5. LIKE and SHARE the Bring Back Our Boys Facebook page and join the 85,000 supporters and growing.
6. TWEET with the hashtags  #BringBackOurBoys and #EyalGiladNaftali on Twitter to show support and demonstrate solidarity with the people of Israel.
7. STAY INFORMED by visiting these pages: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Israel to the US and the IDF Facebook page. Then, inform your greater community, friends and family of the situation.

 

Encourage our elected leaders to:

• Make public statements condemning the terrorist kidnapping of the three Israeli teens and express support of Israel to reunite these teens with their families and loved ones;
• Call upon Palestinian President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to play an active role in bringing about the release of the three kidnapped teens;
• View with suspicion the direct and indirect role in the Palestinian government of Hamas, an unreformed terrorist organization dedicated to Israel's destruction and representative of the antithesis of peaceful reconciliation and coexistence. Hamas continues to perpetuate terror attacks against Israel and rebuffs the international community by refusing to accept the Quartet principles of recognizing Israel, rejecting violence and accepting previous Israel-Palestinian agreements; and
• Conduct a thorough review of continued U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority ensuring that the U.S. law prohibiting funds to a Palestinian government in which Hamas participates or has undue influence is completely followed and implemented.