Jessica Ostrov, a parent and teacher from St. Paul, knew as she planned her volunteering trip to Israel, her second since October 7, to expect the extraordinary as a matter of course.
Any of her three flights, carefully booked with different airlines in light of the cancellations affecting Israel, could be disrupted. It took twenty-eight hours and two layovers, but she arrived safely.
The “Houthi alarm clock” – ballistic missiles launched from Yemen in the middle of the night – could mean joining the millions of Israeli civilians who have left their beds daily to seek shelter from incoming attacks. Exhausted from travel, Ostrov slept through the sirens during her first night b’eretz, in the land (of Israel), and awoke to news of the Jersulem family who, unhurt in their safe room, discovered a large remnant of a Houthi-launched missile embedded in their roof after it was intercepted by the IDF.
It’s been impossible to avoid comparisons of the Israel Ostrov is finding now versus a year ago.
Last January, she completed her first heart-breaking walk through the display of hostage posters in Ben Gurion’s Arrivals Hall, showing every person kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. On her second visit, now over 400 days into the hostages’ captivity, she again paid painful homage to Kfir Bibas, kidnapped with his parents and older brother at nine months old.
Reflecting on arriving in Israel as reports of the emerging hostage deal broke and wondering who will be released, Ostrov said: “I don’t think I’ll ever recover from the emotion of that.”
The digital sign in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square shows a live display of the days, hours, minutes and seconds the hostages have been captive. Last year, Ostrov witnessed the counter at 102:13:05:20 (days:hours:minutes:seconds). This year: 454:15:21:20 and counting.
“Those seconds ticking by can be felt in the heartbeats of everyone there tonight, and Jews around the world,” she said.
Hostage families and volunteers keep the square a living memorial to the ongoing plight, but the rally Ostrov attended this week was especially electric.
“[It] became packed as people are desperately praying for this pending deal to go through. It’s absolutely mind-blowing to see all these people in person that have only been on a screen for me for 15 months,” she described. “I saw Yoav Gallant being interviewed.”

Yoav Gallant, politician and former Israeli Minister of Defense, being interviewed in Hostages Square (Courtesy: Jessica Ostrov)
Ostrov made sure to share some Twin Cities love with Israelis.
“I was able to go up to Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen,” a nineteen-year-old American-Israeli murdered by Hamas in the October 7 attack, “and show him the picture of us standing on our Friday corner in St. Paul, and tell him we are always thinking of the hostages in Minnesota.”
Along with the world, she is wondering about the fate of the Bibas family. In addition to Kfir, mother Shiri and five-year-old Ariel are on the list of hostages Hamas is set to return in the first phase of the deal, but it remains unknown whether they are alive.
“It’s almost Kfir Bibas’s 2nd birthday, and there was a beautiful Hebrew cover of John Lennon’s ‘Beautiful Boy’ before his grandfather spoke, father of Yarden Bibas, Kfir’s father, who is also still in captivity,” Ostrov said of her recent visit to Hostages Square.
As a member of Mount Zion in St. Paul, Ostrov is beloved for her huge heart and commitment to justice and community, so it’s no surprise that her advocacy continued as she encountered journalists.
“I spoke to two different reporters from i24 news, and thank[ed] them for their English broadcasts and [made] sure they know that their work gives English-speaking Jews all around the world the insight into what’s happening that we are so desperate for to stay connected at all points on the globe.”
Ostrov’s friends admire how she excels at tact in difficult conversations, and that, too, was on display on this visit.
“I introduced myself to Jeremy Diamond, who has been the CNN correspondent covering this war, from here. I thanked him, but I also kindly said that often when I see the CNN headlines saying Israel did this or that, the rest of the story just isn’t there,” she said. “I find myself shouting at the TV, ‘ASK WHY, TELL US WHY!’ There is always a reason, do not leave that out. People know nothing about Israel, they do not know how small it is or how it feels to have a seven-front war coming at them from all directions….May he remember our interaction.”
Most of all, Ostrov’s visit to Israel is about helping others. Across two trips so far, she has volunteered tirelessly and represented our community. The competing needs are endless, and she maintains a flexible attitude as she decides on her daily plan.
“The reality of the situation here got very real. I saw on the volunteers’ Facebook page the times and locations of the funerals for the five soldiers that were killed in Gaza yesterday, and the call for people to show up for the shiva of a soldier that was killed on Saturday,” Ostrov said. “It was unreal to me to think that I had my choice of which funeral or shiva to attend based on my location and timeframe, there were so many to choose from. It made me feel sick. Ultimately, it made the most sense to go to the shiva, and I’ll try to make it to another shiva tomorrow.”
Within the first two days alone of her trip, she also visited a school who was eager to accept Ostrov’s expertise as a Montessori-trained teacher and volunteered for Leket, a food bank.
“I spent part of the time packing up imperfect bell peppers, and then stacking up the most beautiful parsley and cilantro I’ve ever seen,” she said. “As usual when volunteering, I met the absolute nicest people.”
Her jam-packed trip continues and so, too, the connections between the Twin Cities and Israel, including the contrasts that arise from visiting a country at war.
“I saw one group of soldier-aged guys making balls of sand and throwing them at each other the way we have snowball fights in Minnesota,” Ostrov said about her morning walk along the Tel Aviv beach. “They all ran into the water, splashing each other, like little kids. I had to take a short video because the contrast of joy to what was all around was so emotional for me to see. They know what’s going on, and deserve to have a moment where they put it out of their mind.”