22 | NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 
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ately, different cities around the 
world have been setting up tables 
with empty place settings and 
empty chairs in honor of the 242 hostages 
kidnapped by Hamas during the terror 
attacks on Oct. 7 in Israel. Sometimes 
each of the empty chairs has a picture of a 
hostage taped to it.
One woman, a relative of seven of the 
hostages, tearfully rearranged some of the 
empty chairs of the display in Chicago so 
her loved ones in captivity were “seated” 
next to each other. 
At that moment, Rachel Volkowitz 
passed by and the two struck up a 
conversation. Volkowitz hugged the 
woman and shared that her brother had 
created special dog tags in honor of the 
hostages that are being worn by students 

in several cities. 
Then and there, Volkowitz FaceTimed 
her brother, Avi Smith of Southfield, who 
attends Shomrey Emunah and who is 
also a father of a Lone Soldier currently 
fighting on the front lines.
This Chicago woman was extremely 
moved to meet Smith and hear about the 
dog tags he’d created — each with just 
one hostage’s name. Her beloved relatives 
weren’t just a faceless, nameless number. 
Each of them was being remembered and 
prayed for individually. 
The inspiration for these dog tags 
came from the POW/MIA (Prisoner 
of War/Missing in Action) bracelets 
that were in circulation in the United 
States during the Vietnam War. They’d 
first been introduced by two college 

students as a way to honor and increase 
awareness of the missing American 
soldiers. Traditionally, according to the 
Smithsonian Institution, these bracelets 
were worn until the POW returned to the 
United States at which time the bracelet 
was presented to the former prisoner.
“It occurred to me that we should 
do something similar for the hostages 
in Gaza,” said Smith, who is a software 
developer. His hobby is playing around 
with dye sublimination, using special 
printers and a heat press. Immediately 
after the war broke out, he started 
creating these dog tags. 
Smith found a list of the hostages and 
printed each dog tag with a single name, 
along with “Acheinu Kol Beit Yisrael,” a 
prayer of solidarity with Israel. On the 

Farber students and teachers are praying 
for each hostage.

Dog Tag Project 
Honors Hostages

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

LEFT: Twin sisters Rachel and Yael Schreiber, Bnot 
Sheirut, wearing dog tags with the name of a 
hostage they know personally. BELOW: Avi Smith 
making the dog tags.

