Oakland installation highlights hostages’ plight this Passover
'These are human beings, who aren't going to be at their seders because they're held hostage'
A Passover installation in Oakland aims to remind people about the estimated 240 hostages taken by Hamas from Israel on Oct. 7.
Located at Schenley Plaza on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus, the installation includes three sections: one for hostages still in Gaza, one for freed hostages and one for hostages confirmed dead whose bodies have not been released by Hamas.
The tables include place settings, wine, Haggadot, matzo, seder plates and salt water. Each seat includes signage with a hostage’s name and age.
University of Pittsburgh first-year student Tamar Franbuch helped erect the installation on April 18.
“It’s very personal for me,” she said. “I know one of the hostages. Most of my family is still in Israel, so I just wanted to come out here and do what I can.”
Fellow Pitt student Michaela Springer said that volunteering on-site follows months of campus activism.
“I think it’s really important for people to know that you can feel for victims on both sides,” she said. “And this is one way of showing that these are people, these are human beings, who aren’t going to be at their seders because they’re held hostage.”
April 24, the second night of Passover, will mark 200 days of captivity, said Adam Hertzman, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s associate vice president of marketing.
“During an unprovoked attack, Hamas took hostages — civilians and even babies hostages — in violation of international law,” Hertzman said.
Working with Hillel JUC to create the installation before the holiday is critical, he added.
Pitt student Yoni Preuss said that the installation should prompt pause and inquiry.
“We have to have these conversations,” he said. “It’s important to remember what’s happening.”
Passover marks the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. That narrative, which is typically shared during a seder, celebrates the path from bondage to freedom.
Seder participation remains among the most popular forms of Jewish expression, as 62% of Jews held or attended a seder in the last year, according to Pew Research Center’s Jewish Americans in 2020 report.
Passover is coming, but the Oakland installation’s message is not dependent on faith, Franbuch said.
“I want non-Jews to take away that we’re human — Israelis are human — that the hostages are human, that they’re civilians and that they don’t deserve this. And for Jews, it could have been us. We are the same as them. And to not forget that.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
comments