Stony Brook Hillel and Seawolves for Israel (SFI) jointly held a memorial service to honor the six hostages who lost their lives and were recently recovered by the Israeli military from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at the Student Activities Center (SAC) Plaza.

The service started with students being given flyers that displayed the hostages’ names,  lyrics to traditional Jewish prayers, and the national Israeli anthem. Noa Gluck, the president of SFI and a junior majoring in mathematics gave a speech, ending with the hope that the remaining Israeli hostages would be returned home safely.

Students then proceeded to march around campus, starting at the SAC plaza and then walking by the Charles B. Wang Center, the Stony Brook Union and Harriman Hall before finally returning to the SAC plaza.

Demonstrators held Israeli flags and poster boards with the names of the hostages killed, written in both English and Hebrew: “Sorry Hersh, Ori, Eden, Almog, Alexander, and Carmel. Sorry.” The group then laid down small electric candles in the shape of the Star of David to end the memorial service.

The memorial comes after six more Israeli hostages who were captured on Oct. 7 were found dead in Gaza by Israeli forces. Three of them were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal that was discussed in July.

Following the announcement of the deaths, tens of thousands of Israelis protested in the streets of Israel, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas to free the remaining captives. On Monday, Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, called a general strike to pressure the Israeli government towards a ceasefire deal.

Amy Stern, the social media coordinator of SFI and a senior majoring in psychology, said she experienced an “intense mourning for someone … you have never met.” She compared the feeling to losing a family member.

Gluck also experienced a similar feeling, citing that one of the hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, struck her as he was American-Israeli and close to her age at 23 years old.

“It’s not just a Jewish thing to feel sad right now, this should touch everybody in some way,” Gluck said.

Katya Shemelyak, a senior majoring in psychology, said that it is important to give students a place to grieve due to how “personal” it is to the Jewish community.

“We’re so lucky we have a community here where we can grieve together and live together,” Shemelyak said.

Shemelyak added that the vigil is to speak for the lives lost, and emphasized that they will “live on in their hearts.”

Beth Portnon, a freshman double majoring in psychology and business management, said that despite hearing about the pro-Palestine encampment and the 29 arrests made last spring, it did not deter them from attending Stony Brook University this fall semester.

“There’s obviously a lot of disagreement on such a contentious topic that we managed to keep a sense of community here,” Portnon said. “Stony Brook is still, despite the conflict, a safe place for Jewish students.”

Gluck said the memorial was not politically motivated or a response to the protest pro-Palestinian students hosted last Wednesday, adding that both groups had the right to gather via the First Amendment.

“Every life is like a universe, and six families just lost their whole universe,” Gluck said. “It’s just hard.”