On paper, it sounded like an incongruous combination: The Boulder Jewish Festival, filled with music, dancing, food and celebrating everything Jewish, simultaneous with Run for Their Lives, the weekly walk calling for the release of the hostages in Gaza and the target of the June 1 anti-Semitic firebombing attack, which injured 15.
In reality, the two events were not incongruous at all. The juxtaposition of Jewish joy and Jewish anguish came together to create a powerful display of Jewish unity and mutual support at a time when it was needed most.
Heavy security provided by the Boulder Police Dept. was everywhere on the Pearl Street Mall, from police barriers to armed SWAT team members to drones buzzing overhead to snipers with their guns perched on the rooftops of the business on the mall.
The 30th Boulder Jewish Festival started at 11 a.m., Sunday, June 8, as it always has, in front of the Historic Boulder County Court-house in the center of the Pearl Street Mall. Festival goers from the length of the Front Range visited the dozens of booths run by Jewish organizations, listened to music and partook of the many food options offered.
At noon, two blocks north of the festival, at Broadway and Pearl, the Boulder Run for Their Lives was joined by Denver’s Run for Their Lives for their weekly peaceful walk publicizing the plight of the hostages on their 611th day of captivity.
Rabbi Marc Soloway of Bonai Shalom offered a prayer to start the walk:
“Our lives have been changed this week. We are hurt, sad, grieving, angry and afraid. And yet we are deeply comforted by our resilience and the strength and love of this community, our beloved Jewish community, and the wider circles of friends, neighbors, faith leaders and elected officials here and around the world. We feel seen and we feel loved, and the gratitude that we have is part of our healing.”
ADL Mountain States Director Susan Rona said, “Hatred towards Jews is not an abstraction — it is a clear and present danger to all of us. When we allow rhetoric that dehumanizes Jews to spread unchecked, when we normalize calls for violence against Jewish communities, when we fail to distinguish between legitimate criticism of a country or its government and anti-Semitic hate — this is the inevitable result.
“We need a new narrative of community to fight this hatred: not one defined by proximity, but one of shared responsibility — the daily decision to keep showing up for one another, as we are doing here today. That is the light in the darkness.”
Led by the American and Israeli flags, thousands of supporters walked — many carrying placards with the faces and names of hostages — toward the main stage of the festival. Many joined in singing “Hine Mah Tov Umanaim, ‘How good and pleasant it is that brothers dwell together.’”
Typically, the weekly walks include a time for announcements and the reading of the names of the hostages. This week’s program at the main stage, witnessed by 15,000 people, according to Boulder Police, featured —
• a look back at the devastating attack on the group exactly one week before;
• messages of support and gratitude from hostages’ family members, and
• a resolve to continue the vigil until all the hostage are home.
The Boulder Jewish Festival is produced by the Boulder JCC, so the JCC’s Executive Director Jonathan Lev served as master of ceremonies.
Lev called Run for Their Lives “a community that gathers week after week to peacefully walk and raise awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza. It’s an act of love, of humanity and of moral clarity. This group exists for one reason — to ensure the world doesn’t forget them.
“We had always planned for today to have a walk as part of this festival,” Lev said, “But after the horrific attack last week, we knew we needed to elevate their voices even more.”
Rachel Amaru founded Boulder Run for Their Lives in November, 2023, a month after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7.
Through tears, she addressed the crowd:
“I stand before you as a mother, as a wife, as a proud Jew and as a proud Zionist.
“That is my identity. It is not the identity of everyone on our walk. We come from different faiths, from different political affiliations, from different backgrounds, from different countries.
“But we have come together since November, 2023 because the massacre of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and the kidnapping of 251 people of multiple nationalities, and because of the heroism and vision of Shany Klein, founder of the global Run for Their Lives, who incredibly is here with us.
“We come together across the globe for a humanitarian walk with a single mission — to call attention to the plight of the hostages, to say their names, to offer our comfort, to tell them we are with them, even in the dungeons of Gaza, to reassure them and their families that we have not forgotten them.
“After 611 days in hell, we plea for their release. We call upon all governments who can assist to help in doing so, to do everything in their efforts to bring them home.
“Every week, no matter the weather, we have gathered together at 8th and Pearl streets to walk down the mall ending at the courthouse to record our Run for Their Lives.
“It is videoed in sync with all the other 230 groups around the world.
“These messages of solidarity are then put on social media and shared far and wide; they’re seen regularly by the families of the hostages, by friends of the hostages, by citizens of multiple countries.
“On Sunday, June 1, I was not here because I was walking with the Westchester County, NY group and I stood with them holding hostage signs as cars drove by honking in solidarity.
“Our group doesn’t exist to solve the Middle East crisis, too end a war or to change anyone’s minds about politics.
“It exists because not enough people across the globe were horrified when 251 innocent people, women and children, grandparents and babies were kidnapped from their beds or from safe rooms, some of which were set afire, and from a music festival where mostly 20 somethings came to dance and forget the violence of the world.
“The story of those kidnappings disappeared all too quickly from the media. This was not a Republican or a Democratic story. This was a story of innocent human beings who were tortured, raped, kept in tunnels and murdered as their bodies were dragged back as collateral.
“Our group, which includes Jews and Christians, Russians, Israelis, dual national citizens and Americans like nearly every other run for their lives group, is composed of people who cannot tolerate that there were not more of us crying out for the release of these men and women.
“That is why we walk, and why we will not stop walking until they are all home. We will not be deterred. We will keep praying with our feet. We will keep saying their names and we will stand up to anti-Semitism when it rears its head here in Israel or anywhere else in the world.
“To my friends in Boulder Run for Their Lives, who walked on June 1, I can hardly imagine a braver group of people.
“You took care of one another in the midst of a horror no one could imagine happening in Boulder.
“You have become a family and I love you all. Every single one of you are an inspiration to me, to this city, to this state, and to the world.
“May you all heal, embody and soul and know that you are not alone.”
Amaru called her Boulder co-leader Omer Shachar “a hero” for his bravery and quick thinking when he helped pulled victims away from the fires and extinguish the flames on their clothing during the June 1 attack.
Shachar took the stage with Maya Bajayo, leader of the Denver Run for Their Lives, which walks weekly at Washington Park.
“This was not just an assault on individuals,” said Shachar, “it was an attack on Jewish people and an offense to our shared American values of peace, unity and humanity.
“We extend our deepest gratitude to the first responders, the police, firefighters and medical personnel, as well as the member of our Run for Their Lives community and the bystanders who, without hesitation, rushed to help.”
Bajayo, who founded the Denver group on Nov. 12, 2023, said, “In the past 19 months, I’ve had so many breaking points where I felt I couldn’t keep going, but seeing your dedication and perseverance week after week, I knew I could not stop.”
At the end of each week, in Boulder and Denver, the groups make a video of the participants expressing their demand for the release of the hostages, and the video is shared with the families of the hostages.
Another video was made this week, but with some 15,000 people proclaiming, “Run for their lives! Bring them home now!”
Through the Hostage Family Forum, on video, released hostages and family members of murdered hostages expressed their thanks to Colorado.
Included was a video message from Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was wounded and abducted by Hamas during the Re’im music festival massacre. He was held hostage for almost 11 months, until he was murdered — shot in the back. His body was recovered from a tunnel in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 31, 2024.
The video messages were followed by the in-person appearance of Moshe Lavi, brother-in-law of Omri Miran, who was taken in the Gaza tunnels from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7. Lavi was introduced by Miri Kornfeld, a co-leader of Denver Run for Their Lives and the Colorado director of StandWithUs.
Lavi was born and raised in Sderot, a city on the Gaza border known for years as the target of rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza.
He served as a captain in the IDF, earned a BA in political science and history from Carlton College and an MBA from the Wharton School and Lauder Institute at University of Pennsylvania. He works as a management consultant in New York City.
Lavi is the brother of Omri Miran’s wife Leshai and uncle of Omri’s daughters Roni and Alma.
Since the abduction of his brother-in-law, Lavi has been a vocal advocate for the release of Miran and the other hostages.
He told the Boulder crowd:
“All of the hostage families were heartbroken when they saw the footage of this event last week. For 611 days, we have lived in fear. We lived with hope as well. We have received only partial, limited and, at times, horrifying proof of life. We don’t know Omri’s condition. We don’t know how much he’s suffering. Deprived of food, water, sunlight, tortured, abused as I speak to you now. We only know he is still there and we will not stop fighting until he is home.
“And until every single hostage who is held by Hamas in Gaza is brought home.
“Thank you, Boulder. Thank you, Run for Their Lives. You march for people you’ve never met. You speak up when others stay silent. You embody moral clarity in a time when too many lose their way.
“And yet, even that for some was too much. A week ago, this community was attacked. Eight people were injured simply for standing up for life and justice. We send strength and healing for each and every one of them.
“But we must also name what happened: a hate crime, an anti-Semitic attack, not against an ideology, but against the people asking for the loved ones to come home. This is the reality. Jews who speak for grief, who plea for life are treated as threats. But let me be clear, as I said countless times this week, we will not be silent. We will not be afraid.
“I want to share with you a few words about Omri, my brother-in-law. Omri is a gentle, loving man, a shiatsu therapist, a gardener, a loving father to Roni, who will turn four in July, and Alma, age two, a devoted husband to my sister Leshai.
“Their love began in 2020 amid the pandemic and bloomed ever since. But on October 7, everything changed. Terrorists stormed their kibbutz, Nachal Oz.
“Omri, my sister and nieces were held at gunpoint. They were moved from house to house, witnessing unspeakable crimes and terror, and then Omri was taken, disappearing into Gaza.
“Since that day, our lives have not been the same. I will do everything I can that their love story will not end with the tragedy of October 7 and its aftermath, rather with the line ‘And they lived happily ever after.”
“This week, three hostages’ bodies were recovered by the IDF. We are grateful and salute the brave soldiers who made it possible for three families to finally bury their loved ones.
“It was also, sadly, a week of sorrow for the nation of Israel. Eight Israeli soldiers falling in battle — young men who died trying to protect our country and bring the hostages home. We grieve with them and their families.
“Our eyes stay and must stay focused on the 55 hostages who are still alive, as the Talmud teaches us, ‘Whoever saves one life, it is as if they saved an entire world.’
“You in this community and many others worldwide are marching for 55 worlds. Not statistics, not symbols, but real people, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, people like Omri.
“When we say we bring them home, we mean bring them home for healing. Bring them home for their children and families. Bring them home because our nation is not whole without them.
“This is not a political campaign. It’s not about left or right; it’s about straight — what is right and not what is wrong. In our tradition, the Jewish tradition, the redemption of our captives is a sacred obligation. One of the highest mitzvot.
“This is our mission, but not only as Jews. I call every human being in this planet to be with us. It’s not a Jewish mission. It is a human humanitarian mission.
“To achieve that, we as families march for a viable deal. A deal that brings every hostage home allows our soldiers to return from the battlefield, enables our country to heal and frees our policymakers to focus on the enormous security challenges, whether in Gaza or in other fronts.
“In a just, sane world, no deal would’ve been needed. The international community and the sponsors of Hamas countries like Iran, Turkey, Qatar, would’ve forced the release of every hostage immediately and unconditionally.
“But this world is neither just nor sane, and so we will work with what the world we have.
“It is filled with hate —whether it’s the hate Hamas unleashed on October 7, or the hate we now see in our street, in the US and our screens, in the traditional media and on social media where lies become false truths. Where radicalization spreads, where hate speech becomes hate crimes, translated to terrorism.
“Because, to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And the injustice of 55 human beings still held hostage without sunlight, without due process, without their humanity respected, should shake the conscious of every decent human being.”
The program continued with prayers by Rabbi Fred Greene of Har Hashem and Rabbi Soloway of Bonai Shalom.
Rabbi Greene recited Mi Sheberach, a prayer for healing for the hostages along with their Hebrew names.
Then, as has been done every week since Run for Their Lives began, the program concluded with the reading of the names of all the remaining hostages, alive and known to be deceased. Uncharacteristic for a large Jewish crowd, there was complete silence.
As the assembly dispersed, many people returned the festival in front of the courthouse, others started to go home. The mood was somewhat muted, certainly not a typical festival atmosphere.
Elvia Allen, a Boulder resident, while moved by the hostage remembrance program, said she loves the Boulder Jewish Festival and will always support it.
A number of public officials were spotted in the crowd, including Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, District Two Rep. Joe Neguse, Sen. Michael Bennet, Sen. John Hickenlooper, State Senate President Pro Tempore Dafna Michaelson Jenet, State Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, Colorado GOP Chair Brita Horn and State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser shared his thoughts with the IJN:
“The message of this incredible turnout is we’re not going to be intimidated. Trying to terrorize people is trying to change how they live their lives, to have people live in fear. Go ahead. We’re not going to live in fear. We’re not going to be terrorized, we’re not going to intimidated, we’re going to stand strong.
“The hostages in Gaza are going through unimaginable pain.
“For us to be here to show solidarity concern for them is an important opportunity for all of us to make a stand and for us to show whatever for criminal who thinks they can intimidate us or change how we approach. This is how we answer that.”
© IJN 2025
