Omer Neutra's Long Island community gathers in mourning after his Oct. 7 death confirmed

"It's been very, very challenging for everyone to navigate their feelings because Omer grew up here," the Midway Jewish Center President said.

By HANNAH SARISOHN DECEMBER 3, 2024 21:41 Updated: DECEMBER 3, 2024 21:56

Memorial service for American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra (photo credit: NY hostages and missing family forum)

More than a thousand of Omer Neutra’s family members, classmates, local Jewish community leaders, elected officials, and fellow congregants packed into the sanctuary of Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, New York, for a memorial service on Tuesday morning, just over 36 hours after the IDF confirmed that the tank commander was killed by Hamas on October 7. His body has been held in Gaza since.

The Neutras were an intricate part of the congregation for many years before October 7, and the tragedy really brought members of the community even closer, Midway Jewish Center president Tracy Slavsky told The Jerusalem Post.

“It’s been very, very challenging for everyone to navigate their feelings because Omer grew up here. He’s my daughter’s friend,” Slavsky said. “So it’s been very personal for a lot, a lot of people. Everyone understood that he is one of us.”

As a leader, Slavsky said it has been hard protecting the congregation emotionally as well as physically.

“I was really looking forward to the day of having a thousand people here, celebrating his return. Certainly not having to do it this way,” she said. “But I’m hoping that because this has brought everyone closer together, that we’ll just continue to grow. Omer was an excellent role model, and he is truly our hero. You know, we’re very blessed.”

Memorial service held in Syosset, NY, for Omer Neutra (23) of Plainview, NY, Israeli-American hostage announced to have been murdered during Oct 7 2023 terror attack (credit: NY hostages and missing family forum)

Incoming Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen, whose district sits just west of Neutra’s hometown of Plainview, said she attended Tuesday’s memorial service as a message to her constituents.

“It’s really important out of the gate to make sure my constituents know I stand firmly with Israel,” Gillen told the Post. “This horrible tragedy is the result of a terrorist attack by a group that is determined to destroy the State of Israel, and I believe the United States must stand firmly with Israel.”

Gillen said as the new representative for New York’s Fourth Congressional District, she will be a “fierce ally for Israel in Congress.”

United in support of Israel

Eric Post, the regional director for the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Long Island, said that Jewish institutions across Long Island have been united in support of Israel and in the fight to bring Neutra home.

“Today we are fighting to get [Omer’s] body back, to bring all the other 100 hostages home, and we won’t stop until the day that happens,” Post said.

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Post said AJC Long Island’s priority is clear in going wherever is needed to support the Neutras and other hostage families.

“I have two children, two young sons,” Post added. “If we can raise them with so many of the characteristics that Omer had, where my sons will go, I think will be in the right direction.”

Neutra’s classmates from the Schechter School of Long Island filed into the sanctuary almost an hour before the service started, embracing each other with tears.

“He was the sweetest of the sweet, the most social, the most friendly, every teacher in school loved him, and every student,” one of his classmates, Julia, told the Post.

She said the past 24 hours have been “just complete heartbreak.”

“You have so much hope. I was so sure I would see him again,” another classmate, Ariel, said. “It’s kind of the end of a chapter, of feeling like we’re in limbo. And the beginning of a chapter of mourning, what he’ll never have, and what we’ll never be able to share with him.”

Neutra’s class at Schechter was close, according to Ariel, and feeling a key piece of that missing “every second” has been gut-wrenching.

“I’m comforted to know that he wasn’t suffering, that he’s not still suffering, but [it is] absolutely heartbreaking in every sense of the word,” Ariel said.

Ariel recalled that to make their classmates laugh, Neutra used to cry on demand and “was just the silliest.“He had no shame to be funny, to be ridiculous. He brought a smile to everyone’s face,” she said. “We could all use a lot of Omer right now, really.”

While Todd Richman, a co-chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, never met Neutra, he’s gotten to know Orna and Ronen, Neutra’s parents, well over the past 14 months.

Richman first met the Neutras on a trip to Israel last December and helped to facilitate numerous other political speaking arrangements.

“I’m in complete awe of the entire family,” Richman said. “I know parents dedicate themselves to their children, but I’ve never seen something like this before. Twenty-four/seven, there hasn’t been a day that they have rested. I keep telling people, it’s an unfortunate pleasure that I got to meet them.”

Richman said over the countless time he spent with Orna and Ronen, he learned Neutra was “beyond special” and a kid who could light up the room.

“A young man who was dedicated to his friends and his family, and someone that just exudes love and love for his people,” Richman said.” We should all only be blessed to have someone like Omer.”

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he thinks Neutra knows how blessed he is to have a family of such extraordinary strength.

Orna and Ronen have shown a remarkable voice in unspeakable circumstances, he said.

“This shul, this family and this community, and Israel as a people, we’re going to be healing for a very long time,” Greenblatt said. “I don’t know that this wound will ever truly heal. There’s always going to be a hole in our heart, and there’s always going to be grief to the people that we lost on that day.”

The congregation’s Rabbi Joel Levenson described Omer, after the ceremony, as “a real shining star” and “one of a kind.”

He said he couldn’t think of anyone who more lived the values that Jewish leaders seek to infuse into kids about the love of the Jewish people and Israel.

Levenson said he was amazed to hear Orna and Ronen express deep appreciation as parents for having a son like Omer.

“That sends a message to all the parents who are here and those watching to be thankful for our children,” he said.

“Mindful that life is precious and we never know what tomorrow may bring.”