From left to right: Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Sh
From left to right: Naftali Frenkel, Gilad ShCourtesy of the families

The Toronto Jewish community continues to express its solidarity with the families of the three boys who were kidnapped by Hamas last week, as a series of prayer rallies have been arranged for the boys' safety, according to Shalom Toronto

Dozens of people gathered outside the Israeli consulate in Toronto Monday for the latest prayer rally. There, Meir Weinstein, head of Jewish Defense League who organized the rally, made the connection between the people of Israel, the Torah, and the State of Israel, and a sense of common destiny that connects all corners of the nation.

Weinstein recalled the 1980 Beit Hadassah shooting in Hevron, while he was a yeshiva student in Israel, noting that then as now that the Palestinian Arabs celebrated the attacks on Jews.

Weinstein criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his first term as Prime Minister, who signed the Wye River Memorandum giving Hevron to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1998, and noted that the result is a major IDF operation to quell Hamas's influence there. 

Against the background of the abduction, Weinstein then called for the cancellation of the Wye River Memorandum completely, which called for major withdrawals from Area C, parts of Judea and Samaria unequivocally owned by Israel. He also called to completely annex Hevron, exercise sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, and deport Israel's enemies. 

In this context, he expressed support for MK Moshe Feiglin and his plan to make Israel a Jewish state with all that entails. 

Ra'anana Goldhar read a letter sent by Knesset member Orit Struk (Jewish Home/Bayit Yehudi) to participants of the rally; the MK noted in her letter that the Jewish people is united in demanding the boys' safe return and to fight against the terrorists trying to prevent them from going home. Struk also stressed that the Jewish people will prevail, as long as they keep united in spirit. 

The next day, on Tuesday, a service was held at the Kehila Center for the boys' safe return, where Rabbi Ovadia Haboucha emphasized the value of mutual responsibility and read Psalms.

Other events for the safe return of the teens will be held on Wednesday in Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Vancouver.

The public has been asked to continuing saying Psalms (Tehilim) 121 and 130 on behalf of the boys, whose Hebrew names are: Ya'akov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah, Eyal ben Iris T'shura, and Gil'ad Micha'el ben Bat-Galim.