‘We Have to Remain Strong’: Mother of Long-Missing Israeli Teen Comforts Oct. 7 Hostage Families

A year and a half after Moshe Kleinerman went missing, his mother, Gitty, in a show of solidarity paid a visit to the families of the hostages recently kidnapped by Hamas as they were holding vigils on his birthday.

Moshe, who was last seen on March 25, 2022, after he took a trip with friends to the pilgrimage site of Meron in northern Israel, would have celebrated his 18th birthday on Sunday. Gitty Kleinerman, whose Hebrew birthday coincided with her son’s this year, used the grim milestone to console other families who, she said, “are wondering if they’ll ever see their [loved ones] again.”

“Eighteen is a sign of life,” Gitty Kleinerman told JTA, pointing to the corresponding Hebrew letters “yud” and “chet,” which together translate as “life.”

“Maybe it’s a sign about things to come in the coming year.”

According to the lastest official numbers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), at least 243 people are being held by terrorist groups in Gaza — primarily by Hamas, which controls the Palestinian enclave. Loved ones and well-wishers are holding a round-the-clock vigil outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, the former site of the anti-judicial reform protests that roiled the country prior to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre. An empty chair has a withering balloon tied to it along with a photo of Ohad Zichri, who marked his ninth birthday last week while in captivity. Zichri was kidnapped together with his mother and grandparents.

Kleinerman, who is from the Haredi settlement of Modiin Illit, was asked to comfort the hostages’ families by Shuki and Varda Minibitzki, the co-founders of Biladehim, an NGO that supports the families of missing persons. The group predates Oct. 7 by several years.

At the vigil, Kleinerman stood out from the crowd, who mostly appeared secular, and several people stopped to ask her if she was related to the hostages’ families.

“I came to give a hug to the families. To show solidarity. It’s the little I can do,” Kleinerman told one well-wisher, Vered.

Vered responded by asking Kleinerman, “How are you even living?”

“How am I living? You see me, I’m breathing,” Kleinerman answered with a smile. “Life is stronger than any of this.”

After the exchange, Vered asked for a hug. After the two women embraced, Kleinerman explained that in her own experience, many people were hesitant to approach her.

“People were scared to come. To hug. I asked, ‘What did I do wrong?'”

But she continued by saying that she drew “endless strength” from those who did.

“That’s why I knew I had to come here today. To give strength. And to remind [the families] that God gave us a special power, called survival instinct. We have to remain strong,” she said.

After arriving at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Moshe Kleinerman told his friends to go on without him because he wanted to be alone.

Kleinerman has maintained that her son was kidnapped, telling Israeli media last year that there was no other explanation for what happened to her son, whom she describes as a “happy” teenager.

Police carried out sweeping searches for him in the months following his disappearance, and while several suspects were arrested in connection to the case, none have provided substantial leads.

“Unfortunately there’s nothing new,” Kleinerman told JTA. “He just vanished. But we continue to hope.”

Her message to the hostages’ loved ones, in particular their mothers, was to “stay positive and strong.”

“Mothers have strength,” she said. “If you’re strong, wherever your child is, they will feel it. You need to continue to stand up, and yes, even to smile. Take care of yourself and fill up your cup where you can so that when, God willing, your child returns, they will return to a strong mother and not a mother who has collapsed from grief.”

Debbie Weiss is a freelance writer based in Israel.

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