Supporters react as they watch a livestream of the release of hostage Edan Alexander in Tel Aviv. Photo by Getty Images

By Stav Ziv May 12, 2025

In the New Jersey suburb of Tenafly, just a few miles outside of New York City, you’re just as likely to hear Hebrew as English while walking down the street. It’s common for families to move to Tenafly from Israel and back again. And it’s not unusual for a Tenafly High School student to decide to hold off on college and enlist in the IDF instead, as Edan Alexander did after he graduated in 2022.

So the mingling of English and Hebrew in the air on Monday felt familiar to members of the Tenafly community and neighboring areas as they gathered in town to wait for Alexander’s release from Hamas captivity after more than 580 days as a hostage.

A newscast from Israel streamed on a large screen, and a woman speaking into a microphone translated updates into English: “Hamas announces it has released Edan Alexander.” “The Red Cross says it’s on the scene but does not yet have Alexander.” “We have confirmation that Alexander has been released.” “Alexander is officially in the hands of the IDF.” “Alexander has had a first conversation with his mother and is telling jokes.”

With each piece of news, the crowd erupted in cheers. Some in attendance shed quiet tears of joy, relief, heartache, and disbelief that the long-awaited moment had arrived.

“For everyone to come together in such a positive atmosphere, it makes this all feel so much more real,” said Ben Esser, 21, who said he was part of Alexander’s close friend group at the high school. Like many of his friends, he returned home to Tenafly just a few days ago after the end of another college semester. “We’re all in college, doing separate things. In some sense, this is a reunion, and it’s a really happy reunion.”

They’d hoped — but didn’t necessarily expect — that Alexander could be part of that reunion. Standing in a clump at the heart of the gathering, they watched as updates streamed in and the first image of their newly freed friend popped up on the screen — his medical status as yet unknown but standing on his own two feet.

If Esser could tell his friend anything today, it would be that he hopes he takes his time to get healthy and that he can’t wait to reunite with him and take him to his favorite spots. “We love you here. And, you know, take your time in Israel, but know that all your high school buddies are waiting for you when you get home,” Esser said.

Nearby, Daniel Avital, 20, got more worked up than he’d anticipated as he waited for confirmation that the “happy, nice kid” from the grade above him had been officially released. “It felt very close to home. You see all these things on the news, all these hostages, but when you hear of one from your town in New Jersey, it’s a shock,” said Avital, who was born and raised in the U.S. and is also just back from college.

“It’s more emotional than I thought it would be. I’m fighting back tearing up,” he said, glancing at his mom standing beside him. “I’m just hoping that he gets to see his mother soon,” Avital said.

Farther back in the crowd, Brenda Yoo, former vice principal at the high school and current assistant superintendent of Tenafly schools, wiped away tears as she looked on at the scene. “I’m so happy,” she kept repeating. A mother herself, she said she couldn’t imagine what Yael Alexander had been going through in recent months. Last year, when she was still vice principal, she watched Alexander’s younger sister, Mika, navigate an unimaginable situation. She saw “how brave she was, how strong she was. But it wasn’t easy.”

“Regardless of where you stand politically, this is so close to home,” Yoo said. “This is a beautiful community, and just the support that we have for each other, for the family — I’m so proud of this community.”

Next to Yoo was Tenafly’s superintendent of schools Michael Ben-David. “The Tenafly community never gave up hope, it kept pushing and fighting for his return,” he said. “It’s just really impressive. And lucky — you need a whole bunch of luck, too,” he said.

When Morgan Friedman first arrived downtown at 6 a.m. this morning, the sun was just coming up. She could feel how hopeful everyone was, but she was hesitant to believe the release would really happen. Friedman grew up in Tenafly and returned two-and-a-half years ago, to raise her family here.

She doesn’t know the Alexanders personally, but “we see his picture every morning,” she said, and she’s talked to her kids about who he is. “My little ones, we just say, like, this is someone we’re hoping to see back in Tenafly soon.”

In the wake of official confirmation that Alexander had been released and was in Israeli hands, the tentative asterisk in the collective mood cleared, certainty set in, and the gathering became more unequivocally celebratory.

Dara Ivanova, 18, and Jenna Lee, 17, both current students at the high school and the latter a friend of Alexander’s sister, arrived just in time to join in. Their teachers had had the news on throughout the morning, and they were told absences for students who wanted to head into town for the gathering would be excused, Ivanova explained. Neither Ivanova nor Lee are Israeli or even Jewish, but they wanted to show up to support their community.

The bright day — with a clear blue sky, fresh green leaves swaying in a slight breeze, and a warm sun glinting off the pavement — matched the more joyous mood later in the day. The sound system blared a playlist that included “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen and “Kama Tov Shebata Habaita” (which means “how good it is that you came home”).

“It’s a very special day. We hoped that this day would come,” said former Tenafly mayor Peter Rustin, wearing an IDF T-shirt and Rotary Club baseball cap. But “there was never any assurance that we would have this occasion,” he added. “I was home until I knew that there was something to celebrate.”

When Rustin arrived, he was gratified to see the turnout, turning to tell the borough clerk next to him that it’s probably the largest crowd he’s ever seen gather in that spot, where the town has also held vigils for Alexander and celebrated Memorial Day.

“All the hostages are equally important, but it kind of hits home when one is from the home,” Rustin said. “My joy is tempered by the fact that the war is not over. There’s still more to do, but for one brief moment, we have something to celebrate.”

Behind him, on the screen, Alexander’s grandmother said in Hebrew with a smile: “The air has returned to my lungs.” She can finally breathe again.

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