VESTAL, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – The local Jewish community at Binghamton University setup a symbolic Shabbat feast for the hostages in Israel.

BU’s Zionist Organization set tables in the Peace Quad for the over 229 hostages that were taken during the Hamas raid on Israel on October 7.

A Shabbat is a traditional Jewish meal where friends and family come together at the same table every Friday.

Students set the tables and hung up photos of the over 200 hostages to symbolize coming together for a Shabbat meal.

The Vice President of the Zionist group, Eliana Lewis says that seeing all of the faces makes the situation that much more personal.

“It’s really easy to say that you sympathize with everything that’s happening. I think its a lot easier and a lot more meaningful when you see all of these individual faces that we have in all of these chairs. When you look up and you see a specific face, and when you’re able to put a name to a face, it makes it a lot more memorable,” said Lewis.

The group will be holding a fair next week in which other on-campus organizations in support of Israel will table together, sharing information about the conflict.

Lewis says that the Zionist group has been updating fact sheets every day with new numbers and details to keep people in the know of what the war is really like.