Loved ones gather to memorialize American-Israeli soldier Omer Neutra

Omer Neutra was killed more than one year ago, more than 5,000 miles away. But at his memorial service Tuesday morning on Long Island, the sanctuary overflowed with relatives, friends, Jewish leaders and at least one other hostage family.

Coursing through the crowd was the pain of learning — after nearly 14 months of unending hope and activism — that Neutra had been killed in battle alongside his fellow Israeli soldiers on Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists abducted his body to Gaza. It is still being held there.

“I pled for a sign of life; I didn’t get any,” said Orna Neutra, Omer’s mother, during the service at the Midway Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue in Syosset, New York. “Instead, we received, on a daily basis for over 423 days, signs of hope and love: notes in our mailbox, flowers, meals, prayers for Omer and good deeds and thoughts from all over the world.”

She recalled the feeling of her son’s bear hugs.

“For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy, with no physical sign back from you, but with hope and love of so many, we kept going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet and every stage, pushing away any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence.”

Orna and Ronen Neutra, Omer’s father, have been among the most prominent activists in the movement to free the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, of whom roughly 100, living and dead, remain captive. They traversed continents, spoke with President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, and appeared at the Republican convention in addition to many other venues.

They were joined at the memorial ceremony by Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, the parents of another American-Israeli hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who have also been among the most visible advocates globally for the hostages’ release. Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were killed in captivity at the end of August; hostage families have called on Israeli leaders to make a deal for their release, so that the same fate does not befall those who are still alive.

“They did what they could, but they were taken hostage, and now it’s Israel’s turn to show its love and get him and all his team and everybody else back with more [than] 100 hostages still there,” Ronen Neutra said at the service. “One hundred-and-one families are craving, like us, to get them back.”

The family will sit shiva Tuesday to Thursday in Long Island, and will complete the weeklong mourning period in Israel.

Also in attendance were ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt; Nassau County lawmaker Mazi Pilip, an Israeli-American who ran for Congress earlier this year; and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who ordered all New York State flags to be flown at half-staff Tuesday in Neutra’s memory.

Neutra, who was 21 when he was killed, grew up on Long Island, and attended Jewish day school and camp. Speakers recalled childhood memories of him: a banana costume he wore in fifth grade, his affection for the Knicks, and his penchant for competing to eat the last slice of pizza.

Alyssa Mendelowitz, who became friends with Neutra in first grade, recalled sitting across from him in a 10-person Hebrew class.

“I did not only want to listen to whatever Omer Neutra had to say, but I wanted to find a way to learn from him and become more like him,” Mendelowitz said. “To me, Omer wasn’t just a classmate or close friend. He was someone that challenged me to want to do more and be better.”

Wearing a jacket that was once Omer’s, his younger brother Daniel lamented that he would soon be older than his brother will ever be.

“I have to grow old without him by my side,” Daniel Neutra said. “At least when I have to explain to my children and grandchildren who Omer was, I will have thousands of interviews, articles and documentaries to reference.”

Hanging over Tuesday’s service was the shadow of that long effort, and the realization that Omer would not be returning to his home an ocean away.

“The truth is that we prayed, and the truth is that we davened, and the truth is that we sounded the shofar to crash the heavens, and the truth is that we lit extra Shabbat candles,” said Midway’s Rabbi Joel Levinson. “And the truth is that we wanted a different end to this story.”