Full-capacity LA vigil honoring Israeli hostages has to turn visitors away

A Los Angeles vigil dedicated to the Israeli hostages came together very quickly, but the Sunday event reached full-capacity, with the fire marshall telling organizers they had to turn people away, a security guard told JNS.

JNS was among hundreds of Jewish and pro-Israel Angelenos, who stood in line in a parking lot outside the Culver City warehouse, in which a Nova Exhibition is being held, hoping to enter the building where the vigil took place in a back room.

The actress Noa Tishby, a former Israeli envoy fighting Jew-hatred, headlined the event, which also featured Los Angeles Jewish leaders, the music executive Scooter Braun, actor and comedian Brett Gelman and survivors of the Oct. 7 Nova festival massacre. One speaker was beside Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose body Israel recently recovered, when Hamas terrorists kidnapped the Israeli-American.

JNS was initially among some 100 people who crowded a small entryway, listening to the vigil from an adjacent room. Many who couldn’t hear the proceedings watched a livestream on their phones. (JNS was subsequently admitted into the room.)

Rabbi Joel Nickerson, of the Reform congregation Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and a speaker at the vigil, told JNS that “the community showed up” to the event that was organized and publicized in fewer than 24 hours.

“Nothing has currently activated the Los Angeles Jewish community quite like this,” he said. “It gives me hope.”

Tishby told the crowd, during the event, that the world has been “shattered by unimaginable loss” since Oct. 7.

“It’s almost impossible to put into words,” she told attendees. “But tonight, we come together to ensure that the six precious lives lost, which we learned of yesterday, will never be forgotten. Each of these names carries with them a story—the story of the lives they touched.”

Tishby told a story about each hostage: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Carmel Gat, 39; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 26; Alex Lobanov, 32; and Ori Danino, 25. After her speech, she led the crowd in reciting the Shema, with many in the crowd crying and hugging one another.

The vigil also featured renditions of the “Kel Malei Rachamim” (“God full of mercy”) prayer, the song “Acheinu” (“Our brothers”) and the mourner’s Kaddish.

“No, no, no, no, no”

Lola Sandra, who has lived in Los Angeles for seven years, has taught religious school, attends Jewish young professional Shabbat meals almost weekly and cooks kosher vegetarian meals for the community.

She told JNS that she attended the vigil both to mourn the hostages and everyone who lost their lives on or after Oct. 7. “My heart hurts,” she said.

Sandra, who didn’t use her phone on Shabbat, found out Saturday night that Israel had identified the bodies of six hostages. “Around 7 p.m., I opened social media and I immediately saw it,” she said. “My first response was, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’”

Michelle Weinberg runs Jewish community events in Los Angeles, including working with Sababa Social Club, an organization that “brings Jews together.” On Saturday night, she was working at a “cafe culture night” checking people in when a coworker told her that Goldberg-Polin’s body had been found.

“My heart sank,” she told JNS. “My only word was, ‘No.’”

It was difficult to keep checking people in for the social event. “Words don’t describe it,” she said. “It went from upbeat to ‘how is this real?’” Weinberg still hasn’t fully processed what happened, she said.

“It’s a nightmare,” she told JNS. “Six people were held that long—just to be shot.”

“I wish none of us were here,” she added.

‘One I could run in’

According to Anti-Defamation League data, the Los Angeles Jewish community experienced 503 recorded instances of Jew-hatred in 2023—an increase of more than 110% over the prior year.

Ashton Solecki, a professional actress and Jewish advocate, told JNS that she dressed strategically to come to the vigil.

“When I picked out my skirt today, I chose the one I could run in,” she said. “That’s what it’s like being a Jew in America.”

Clara Zimm, the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, told JNS that hearing the news about the murdered hostages made her think of the past. “Everything my grandparents sacrificed equated to this going on,” she said.

At the vigil, where Zimm managed to arrive early and make it into the main room, she felt “unity and togetherness.”

Nickerson, the Reform rabbi, told JNS that he, too, was grateful for the community coming together but that there was still heartbreak.

“I am angry, sad and frustrated,” he said. “I have some glimmer of hope seeing all of these people, but this is an unfortunate wake-up call that keeps happening over and over again.”

Braun, the music executive, told JNS: “I’m glad people can see we have community, but I wish it was a different occasion. I wish none of us were here.”

The exhibit runs through Oct. 8.