This story is going around. Initially it was reported on by a "Media Personality" named Merav Sever who was present at the time as it happened in the shul in Ramat Gan she was davening in, and has since gone viral, so purportedly it is meant to be pretty reliable...
Yom Kippur eve in shul. In this shul they sell the rights to open the aron for Kol Nidre rather than just giving the honor to the synagogue elders or wise men, as is common in some shuls.
The gabbai is auctioning off the honors, including the honor of opening the aron kodesh for Kol Nidre and the bidders are doing what they do and things are getting exciting as they often do. Suddenly a voice calls out from the women's section of the shul with a high bid of 17000nis.
The bid was offered by Yelena Trufanova. Yelena had been a hostage held by Hamas who was released in one of the early rounds of hostage deals. Her son Sasha Trufanova is still being held hostage in Gaza.
People started saying, let her win, leave her alone, her son is a hostage, she's the mother of a hostage, let her be, let her have it. people were stunned. Besides for the unusual site of a woman bidding for one of the honors (at least in many shuls it is unusual), now it is also a situation connected to the hostages. People were stunned momentarily into silence. After a moment the crowd recovered and got back to the bidding.
The show must go on, and the top bid is now 17k, but with money going to the shul for covering a years worth of operating expenses, it was not just going to stop there. People continued to bid until someone won the auction for opening the aron kodesh to the tune of 21000nis.
As they prepared to start the services, the chazan was going to say a blessing announcing the buyer, but instead of taking it for himself he dedicated it to the mother of the hostage who had bid against him - Yelena. Presumably he was still opening the Ark but on behalf of Yelena. The chazan then turned to Yelena to bless her, and she dedicated it to her son Sasha.
The shul and congregants then dedicated the entire set of Yom Kippur services to Sasha Alexander ben Leah Yelena to come home safe and healthy, in body and mentally. Amen
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