LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Local synagogue presents an empty table event to honor hostages


Photo Sora O'Doherty

Temple Isaiah of Contra Costa County, located in Lafayette, is a partner and co-sponsor of the Empty Shabbat Table Global Initiative. The synagogue helped to bring an empty Shabbat table to Walnut Creek on Friday, Nov. 10. Long tables were set up in Civic Park. Each place at the table had a chair with a poster that identified one of the 240 hostages who were captured from Israel during an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. On each place at the table, a challah roll represented the traditional Shabbat or sabbath meal typically enjoyed by Jewish families on Friday evenings. Members of the public were free to examine the posters, which represented the hostages from some 30 countries. There was also a march to encourage support for bringing the hostages home.

The Jewish Community Relations Council brought the empty shabbat tables to six cities across the Bay Area, including Berkeley, Foster City, Napa, San Francisco, Sausalito, and Walnut Creek.