Visitors to the Newton Centre Green the past two weeks may have noticed a modest dark plaque and small new tree in the grass next to the large, colorful piano. While the eye-catching piano is part of the well-publicized Spark Newton Artful Piano Project, the background story of the plaque and new tree may be less known in the community.
Run For Their Lives (RFTL) was the global, grassroots effort of local groups (numbering over 230 according to the RFTL Instagram page) to conduct one-kilometer runs every Sunday during the two years from the October 7th 2023 Hamas attack on Israel – resulting in 251 Israelis being taken hostage – to the October 13th 2025 release of the last living hostage. RFTL’s website states as its purpose: “Until this crisis is resolved, the world risks normalizing this unbearable situation. Our focus is not on the ‘how’ (pressure world leaders or military pressure). We are solely focused on the ‘what’: doing everything possible to bring them home!” Some local RFTL groups still hold smaller events.
One local RFTL group coalesced at first at Amory Park in Brookline, before growing larger and meeting in Newton Centre every Sunday. The group sometimes ran, and often walked, around the Langley Triangle lot with American and Israeli flags. Aylit Schultz, a Brookline resident and one of the organizers of Run For Their Lives, told Fig City News that the weekly gatherings would often feature speakers (many with connections to the hostages), prayers, and singing of the Star Spangled Banner as well as Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem. She said, “It was difficult to be so immersed in the pain each week, but crucial to keep up awareness about the hostages’ plight, and necessary to have a space to come together to both mourn and hope.”
When asked what was most meaningful to her about Run For Their Lives, Ms. Schultz cited the weekly gatherings following the deaths in captivity of: Hersch Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old with family and many ties to Newton, and Carmela Gat, a 40-year-old yoga instructor from Tel Aviv known to Ms. Schultz. Ms. Schultz also said the Run For Their Lives meeting commemorating what would have been the first birthday of Kfir Bibas – who was taken hostage at 9 months old with his parents and 4 year old brother, and died in captivity – was the “saddest birthday in the world” and “felt like it could have been any one of our children.”
After the hostage crisis ended earlier this year, the RFTL group no longer convened regularly, but their efforts had attracted attention and commendations from many in the community. At 11AM on Sunday, July 19, 2026, approximately 100 RFTL participants and community members gathered in Newton Centre to dedicate the plaque and tree planting. Ms. Schultz, Newton State Representative Greg Schwartz, Brookline State Representative Tommy Vitolo, and Rick Lipof (Newton City Councilor, 1996 – 2008 and 2014-2026) all spoke at the event, which was also attended by another Newton State Representative, Amy Sangiolo.
Representatives Schwartz and Vitolo spoke about how meaningful the RFTL events were for them, with Mr. Vitolo stressing the importance of fighting antisemitism while acknowledging what he described as the difficulty of the road ahead. The gathering ended with the crowd singing Acheinu, the Hebrew prayer for those in distress or in captivity, followed by Hatikva and the Star Spangled Banner.
Mr. Lipof, who delivered prepared comments at the event on behalf of Mayor Marc Laredo, told Fig City News: “The Run For Their Lives gatherings were a much needed support group, for me and many others, following October 7th. It began as a vigil and became a community. We’re grateful the City agreed to commission the commemorative plaque and tree planting.”
