Shalit Prepares for Simchat Torah at Home
A day after returning to his home in Mitzpe Hila after five years in Hamas captivity, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will mark the Simchat Torah holiday at home with his family on Wednesday night.
With the onset of the holiday, the number of onlookers on the streets of Mitzpe Hila lessened. However, a police checkpoint was still located at the entrance to Shalit’s street and people are still being prevented from approaching the Shalit home.
Many visitors brought flowers for the Shalit family. Toward evening, the last of the activists who campaigned for Shalit’s release left Mitzpe Hila.
“This is the end of one phase of my life and the beginning of another,” said activist Ella Hefetz, with tears in her eyes.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces medical officers arrived at the Shalit home.
Shalit was also spotted on Wednesday taking a stroll outside home, accompanied by his mother Aviva and military mental health officials.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30