BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech Jewish community honored those held captive by Hamas during a solidarity walk through the campus.
Several student organizations have remained loud via social media when it comes to the Israel-Hamas conflict. However, the walk was done in silence.
Amanda Herring is the executive director of Hillel at Virginia Tech. Herring said that even remaining silent was able to get a message across.
“I think there’s been a lot of yelling on two sides right now,” Herring said. “People shouting at each other not listening to one another. We wanted to let our signs speak for themselves. We wanted people to see our unity.”
Students carried signs with the faces and names of the hostages in Gaza.
The walk ended at the Pylons on campus where the names were read followed by prayer and song.
Talia Rapaport is a freshman at Virginia Tech. She’s been to Israel four times including for high school. She could only think about one thing while remaining silent on the walk.
“I was thinking about my friends and family in Israel. I was really just thinking about how I’m scared right now but I know what they’re going through is really difficult,” Rapaport said.
As days go on, the heartbreak doesn’t get any easier for the Jewish community.
“We really don’t know what could happen in a day, what could happen in a week, what could happen in a month. We really just have to really hold on to our hope and the best thing we can do is be there for our community,” Rapaport said.