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They Saved a Seat for a Man They Had Never Met.
For 738 days, one Jewish family kept an empty chair at their Shabbos table for hostage Rom Braslavski. When he was finally released… he came to fill that seat.
One Family's Love Became a Lesson for All of Us.
Yehudis Shoshie Abramson never knew Rom. She couldn’t rescue him. She couldn’t negotiate his release. But every day she chose one act of Ahavas Yisrael. She prayed. She cried. She left him a place at her family’s table. And after 738 unimaginable days… that chair was finally filled.
"We didn't just save a seat. We held onto hope when the world told us it was lost."
WHEN HE COULDN’T FIGHT, THEY FOUGHT FOR HIM.
For over two years, an empty chair remained at one Jewish family’s table.
After October 7, 2023 Yehudis Shoshie Abramson of Baltimore, MD chose the name of a hostage she had never met:
ROM BRASLAVSKI
Every day, his place remained set.
A chair.
A place card.
Pictures.
Tehillim.
Tears.
Faith.
Yehudis Shoshie and her family did not know where Rom was.
They did not even know whether he was alive.
But they never stopped praying.
When a Hamas video showed Rom emaciated and barely able to survive, Yehudis Shoshie told her family:
“There are times when a person cannot fight his own fight.
Rom cannot fight his fight right now.
We have to fight his fight for him.”
She held his place card close and declared:
“״לֹא אָמוּת, כִּי אֶחְיֶה״
Tehillim 118:17.
I WILL NOT DIE, BUT I WILL LIVE.”
For months, Yehudis Shoshie imagined Rom coming home. Although they had never met him, the Abramson family set a permanent place for Rom at their Shabbos table. Rom became part of their family in spirit, and no one was ever allowed to sit in his chair. They held onto one hope—that one day he would walk through their front door.
Then, after 738 days in captivity, Rom became the final hostage to be released.
Yehudis Shoshie never let go of her dream of welcoming him into her home. That extraordinary opportunity came one June afternoon, when Rom traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Trump. When the Abramsons learned of his trip, they seized the chance to invite him to their home in Baltimore, MD.
As Rom proudly walked beneath the decorative arches up the front pathway, he had no idea what awaited him.
What he wasn’t prepared for was discovering that a family of complete strangers had loved him, prayed for him, cried for him, and faithfully kept a place for him at their table every single week until he finally came home.
THIS IS AHAVAS YISRAEL.
It is loving a Jew you have never met.
It is carrying their pain.
It is believing when hope feels impossible.
It is fighting for someone when they can no longer fight for themselves.
Who will you carry in your heart?
Watch the video of Rom talking to Yehudis Shoshie and her husband about Ahavas Yisrael
Then join women everywhere in turning Jewish unity into action.
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Imagine If Every Jewish Home Had One Empty Chair...
Imagine if every Jewish woman chose one Jew each week to love a little more. Imagine if we prayed for strangers. Forgave faster. Called someone lonely. Invited another family. Stopped judging. Started listening. Imagine what Klal Yisrael could become.
Welcome to the Ahavas Yisrael Project
A weekly journey helping Jewish women strengthen unity through one simple action at a time.
Learn
Read one short lesson each week.
Practice
Complete one meaningful act of Ahavas Yisrael.
Unite
Join thousands of women building Jewish unity together.
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