Gilad Shalit is a 23-year-old Israeli soldier that has been held captive by Hamas since June 25, 2006. He was kidnapped in a cross border attack from the Gaza Strip on the Kerem Shalom crosssing in Israel.

Hamas has continued to refuse a deal for his release and threatened that if Israel does not act soon, Gilad will suffer a similar fate to Ron Arad. Gilad has been denied access to the International Red Cross and his family has been left to wonder about his health. International human rights groups continue to remain virtually silent on Gilad’s fate.

The Jewish community has worked to bring awareness to the plight of Gilad Shalit and will not stop until Gilad is released and able to return to his family.
We believe there is still hope and we must continue to fight for Gilad’s return.

Please remind your local community, synagogue, government officials, media, and human rights groups that Gilad Shalit is still not free and he needs our help now. A recent op-ed that appeared in JTA entitled Act to Free Gilad by Zelda Harris and Marian Lebor can act as a guide in this effort.

Recently, members of Congress proposed to condition a full package of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians with the stipulation that they end rocket fire on Israel from Gaza and release Gilad Shalit. A letter was also sent to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton by Congresswoman Shelley Berkley of Nevada. Please support any legislative efforts to make Gilad Shalit’s immediate release a priority among policymakers.

How you can help:

• Write letters to your members of Congress to press for his immediate release and to demand Red Cross access.

• Write letters and op-eds to your local papers highlighting this issue.

• Write to the International Red Cross and other human rights groups demanding their immediate intervention.

• Post your thoughts on President Obama’s website.

• Talk to your friends, family and co-workers about Gilad Shalit.

• Use web 2.0 to highlight this issue - Join the Facebook groups dedicated to his release and Twitter your thoughts.

• Visit www.freethesoliders.org and http://www.habanim.org/en/gilad_story_en.html for more information and the children’s story, “When the Shark and Fish First Met” written by Gilad Shalit in 1997.

Below you will find a prayer for Gilad Shalit composed by the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar that can be used in synagogues across the country. Please feel free to pass it to your local Rabbis and synagogues.

Prayer for Gilad Shalit

Composed by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar
Psalm readings: Chapters 70, 13, 142, 126

May it be Your will, oh L-rd, our G-d and G-d of our Forefathers, That the verses of these Psalms which we have read before You today will find favor and will be accepted as if spoken by King David, Your servant and anointed one, of blessed memory.

May You do this for the sake of Your Holy Names that is written in them, alluded to and included within them. Accept mercifully and graciously our prayer and request.

May our supplication come before You that You shall take pity, forgive and have mercy upon Your servant, the son of Your handmaiden,

Gilad, son of Aviva Shalit

And You shall save him in both physical salvation and compassion, together with all the hostages and prisoners of Israel, Your People.

“He who liberates prisoners in good health, may He redeem him (Gilad) from his captors

Bring him forth from captivity to freedom, from slavery to redemption, from darkness into light,

Restore him to complete health, both in mind and body,

Fortify his spirit and increase his strength, spreading happiness and joy,

So that he may be strengthened and healed, and know eternal happiness.

May the proliferation of public prayer, protest and grief on his behalf, far and wide, act on his behalf to protect, shield and redeem him from the house of his imprisonment.

And He will cast asunder his evil sentence that has been decreed, his good deeds shall be enumerated before the Almighty blessed be He, including all that he has done and accomplished on behalf of our people and our inheritance.

So shall He cast asunder his evil sentence through the Holy Name that is alluded to in the initials of the words “accept the delight of Your People, exalt us and purify us exceedingly.”

May He fulfill for him the Biblical declaration, as it is written:

And those redeemed by the L-rd shall return and come to Zion in gladness, with eternal happiness on their heads; they shall know rejoicing and happiness; sorrow and grief shall fade. May this come to pass speedily in our days. Amen.”

Pope Benedict XVI will embark on his journey to the Middle East from May 8-15, 2009. This trip provides an opportunity to foster dialogue and highlight the close relationship the Jewish community has with the Catholic Church, as well as the remarkable strides that have and continue to occur in the Catholic-Jewish and Vatican-Israel relationships.

The Jewish community of New Mexico extends its warm wishes to Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his upcoming pilgrimage to Israel. We wish the Pope the blessings of a safe journey to the Holy Land. We welcome the papal message of unity and peace and celebrate the abiding and continuing spiritual bonds that this trip represents. We share in this joy with our neighbors and friends in the New Mexico Catholic community, led by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan.

Issues in Focus:

— We join with Catholics worldwide and our friends in the New Mexico diocese to celebrate the pilgrimage of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel.

– This trip is a personal pilgrimage, a visit from the leader of the world’s Catholics, and a mission from a head of state. As such it symbolizes the personal, spiritual and diplomatic bonds between the Pope, his faithful, and the Vatican with the Jewish state.

– This journey is a milestone along a path of rapprochement begun decades ago, most notably with the Vatican declaration Nostra Aetate, continuing with Vatican recognition of Israel, and memorably with the historic visit of Pope John Paul II.

– In any friendship, including one with such a complex history and modern day realities, there are going to be differences, but these are approached as friends, with candor and respect.

– The Pope comes to a land holy to Christians, Muslims, and Jews as a man of faith and a man of peace. We recognize that both Israelis and Palestinians continue to live without security. We share the Pope’s call for peace and reconciliation.

– Constructive discussions continue between Israeli officials and the Vatican on the management of key holy sites that are important to Christians - but also to Jews and others as well. While maintaining Israel’s sovereignty over its territory, and the country’s protection of holy sites and religious freedom for all inhabitants, these are issues to be fairly addressed by the government of Israel in conjunction with its partners.

– Together with Israel and our friends in the churches, we share a concern about the status of Christians in the Holy Land. Israel continues to protect the rights of all religious minorities to pray and access their holy sites. Unfortunately, the Christian community is sometimes used as an actual or symbolic human shield for Palestinians who wish to hold Israel in a negative light. Israel is a democracy with a commitment to civil rights and to maximizing freedoms and access, often under extremely difficult circumstances.

– While there may be instances where individuals and communities may feel a sense of despair given the broader conflict that continues around them, we must remember that it is the sacred duty of a nation to protect its citizens from harm, as Israel does for members of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faith communities.

– Regarding The Holocaust, Pius XII and Yad Vashem:
These are complex issues that matter greatly to the Jewish people. The lessons of the Shoah must be remembered as must those who suffered and those who perished, including the six million Jews. So too must we remember those who took great risks to save lives.

There is an important and continuing conversation about the role of the Vatican during that dark time in history, but this is not an issue with regard to the Pope’s pilgrimage. Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessor, will be visiting the hall of memory at Yad Vashem and paying his respects there.

The Shoah remains a sensitive topic. Like the issue of prospective beatification of wartime Pope Pius XII in advance of the opening and study of secret Vatican archives, the issue of “lost” Jews (who were rescued as children, hidden by Catholics, and baptized) is a painful one. We ask our friends in the church to understand the sensitivity of these issues and respond in kind to those who ask for information on Holocaust-era Jews whose original religious and communal identity has been unknown to their birth families, and often to themselves, for decades.

The Israel-Palestinian conflict is not an interfaith dispute. Peace will come from pragmatic solutions that reconcile disparate and competing national aspirations. Interfaith leaders, however, can play an important role in building trust and fostering coexistence and cooperation.