In January, Shira Yoshor was scrolling on X when she saw a post from Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American hostage of Hamas.
Goldberg-Polin said that one way people could help hostages was by raising awareness. She also said that a great way to raise awareness was to get involved with Run For Their Lives, the grassroots organization that advocates for the immediate release of the hostages.
It awoke something in Yoshor.
Less than a week later, she got together with her daughter, Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy student Jordie Yoshor, to start a Philadelphia chapter.
Since Jan. 14, the group of 4-20 people has met every Sunday. The Yoshors spread the word through the newsletter at their synagogue, Mekor Habracha, a WhatsApp group, run4lives.org, at Barrack and pro-Israel rallies. People also see them walking in Rittenhouse Square and ask to join up.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to keep it going,” said Yoshor, 56. “It’s met with a positive reception, and it’s helped a few people every week think more about the hostages.”
And that’s the goal.
Across more than 200 chapters, Run For Their Lives aims to keep people aware, according to run4lives.org. Participants often wear shirts that say, “Bring Them Home,” or carry Israeli flags.
There are still more than 100 hostages being held in Gaza.
“They’re innocent people who have been held in captivity for nine months,” Yoshor said. “It’s unbelievable that this much time has passed.”
Yoshor remembers the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Nightly news anchors would remind viewers of the number of days that had passed since the hostages had been taken.
It pains Yoshor to compare that coverage to the reporting on the current hostages. She feels they have been overshadowed by the general situation in Gaza.
“The world needs to remember these people who were taken and have been treated terribly by all accounts,” she said.
But the labor and employment lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, LLP understands that she can only make this case to a small jury. The local chapter of Run For Their Lives has gotten some media attention. But due to safety concerns, it has to focus more on raising awareness among participants and people who see them.
Yet that’s enough, according to Yoshor.
Plus, word continues to spread.
Yoshor’s mother and sister recently joined the chapter in Memphis. Her niece launched one in New Rochelle, New York.
“I know this group is making an impact,” Yoshor said.
Yoshor plans to participate “until they come home.”
“I was raised in a family that had a great love of Israel,” she said.
Her father, Rabbi David Radinsky, served Brith Sholom Beth Israel in Charleston, South Carolina. When his daughter was in eighth grade, Radinsky and his family took a year-long sabbatical in Israel.
Later, during her college years, Yoshor studied at a seminary in Jerusalem. She still visits Israel once a year with her family. And her firm has an office in Tel Aviv.
“It’s our homeland. I’m a proud Jew. It’s really an important part of who I am,” Yoshor said.
Yoshor grew up Orthodox, and she maintains a traditional household today. Her family keeps kosher and the Sabbath.
“Our house was a place of learning and welcoming other people and trying to infuse people’s lives with traditional Judaism,” she said of her childhood home.
Each week, the local Run For Their Lives chapter welcomes the same core group of supporters. Often, Yoshor and her allies are met with honked horns, raised thumbs or chants of “Am Yisrael Chai!”
The organizer has also heard from hostages who have been released — they found out about the group’s efforts and said they were inspired by them.
“It gave them strength to live in captivity,” she said.