Former Hostages Omer Shem Tov and Agam Berger Thank G-d at Rebbe’s Resting Place

Omer Shem Tov and Agam Berger are the latest of the former hostages to visit the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, shortly after their release from Palestinian captivity in Gaza.

Shem Tov, 21 at the time, was attending the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists launched their devastating invasion. Over the next many hours, the terrorists brutally attacked Israeli men, women and children, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 others to hold as hostages—many of them from the festival. While initially held captive together with his friend Itay Regev, Shem Tov would spend the next 450 days in solitary confinement in Hamas tunnels, during which he suffered horrific abuse and inhumane treatment.

After more than 16 months, on Feb. 22, Shem Tov was finally freed alongside Omer Wenkert, Tal Shoham and Eliya Cohen. All four Jews had been subjected for more than a year to physical and psychological abuse, and prolonged isolation in complete darkness.

The Shem Tovs said that the Hamas terrorists who’d guarded their son occasionally provided him with reading material left behind by Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in Gaza.

One such text became a source of spiritual strength for their son: an edition of Dvar Malchut, a weekly Chabad publication, which had been left behind by a soldier after a failed operation to rescue hostages.

First published in 1991 by Rabbi Tuvia Peles, each Dvar Malchut comprises about 250 pages of densely packed Torah wisdom, including a maamar from the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—with extensive explanation. It also includes the weekly Torah portions with Rashi’s commentary (Chumash); Psalms, as broken down for each day (Tehillim); and the daily study portions for Tanya, these three forming the daily Chitas study program. Among the other Torah wisdom each Dvar Malchut features is HaYom Yom, Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, folios of Talmud for daily study, Pirkei Avot and chapters of Tanach.

Video of Shem Tov’s bedroom as it was left before his abduction showed a picture of the Rebbe on the wall—and a Chitas book (a single-volume compilation of Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya)—at his bedside. Now, after his release, Shem Tov visited the Ohel on May 25 to thank G‑d for his miraculous deliverance.

Berger was one of seven female observers kidnapped when the Nahal Oz army base was overrun during the attacks on Oct. 7. Over 50 of her fellow soldiers were killed at the base. Captain Ori Megidish, who was part of the unit, was rescued by the IDF from Gaza three weeks into the war, while another, Cpl. Noa Marciano, was injured in captivity and subsequently murdered at the infamous Shifa Hospital. Berger and her comrades Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag were held prisoner in Gaza, and fought to maintain Jewish observance even in their dire conditions. While her four friends were freed together, Berger was held alone for another five days, and was finally freed on Jan. 30 after 482 days as a hostage.

She visited the Ohel on May 11th with Rabbi Shai Graucher, a philanthropist involved in supporting the victims of Oct. 7 and soldiers fighting in the war, thanking G‑d for her salvation and praying for the release of those who still are waiting to come back home.

A Place of Prayer for Hostage Families

The Ohel has become a significant place of prayer for the families of hostages.

Alexander (“Sasha”) Troufanov, who was held hostage by Hamas for 498 days, along with his partner, 29-year-old Sapir Cohen who was also kidnapped by Hamas and held captive until the November 2023 ceasefire visited the Ohel on April 2. Eli Sharabi, who was held hostage by Hamas for 491 days after being kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, visited the Ohel two weeks before.

Sharabi’s visit to the Ohel carried deep significance for him and his family. Last year, his brother Sharon came to the Rebbe’s resting place with Chabad-Lubavitch activist Rabbi Mendy Naftalin to pray for his brother’s release. Exactly a year to the date later, Sharabi was freed, and Naftalin accompanied the brothers on their return trip to express their gratitude for the miraculous blessings.

Sharabi was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, and separated from his wife Leanne and daughters Noya and Yahel. His brother Yossi was also taken hostage. For 491 days, he was starved and tortured by Hamas, holding onto hope that he would eventually be reunited with his family.

At the Ohel, Sharabi spoke about the role of faith in keeping him alive. “I came from the darkest place in the world—50 meters underground,” he said. “What gave me strength was saying Shema Yisrael every morning. Every Friday night, we tried to make Kiddush. We didn’t have wine, so we used water. It was the faith that kept us alive.”

Sharabi was one of the 25 living hostages released with Troufanov over the course of the 42 day ceasefire that began in January. Yossi Sharabi was murdered in captivity, and his body is still being held by the Palestinian terror organization.

Following a cynical release charade, during which the world was shocked by his emaciated appearance and how Hamas prodded him to share how excited he was to be reunited with his family, Sharabi was transferred to Israeli officials on Feb. 8, where he was informed that his wife and two daughters had been murdered on Oct. 7. One of his first requests was a spiritual one—a pair of tefillin—and his family’s Chabad rabbi was ready to help.

Rabbi Shneur Raskin, Chabad emissary to Alfei Menashe, Israel, had been in touch with Sharabi’s family throughout his captivity in Gaza. When he heard about Eli’s request, he jumped into action, procuring a beautiful set of tefillin in custom embroidered bags that read: “The entire nation of Israel hugs you.”

At the Ohel, Sharabi recited the traditional Kaddish mourner’s prayer for his brother for the first time.

In November 2023, Sharon Sharabi joined 170 other family members of hostages in a visit to New York to pray at the Rebbe’s Ohel. Organized by the Terror Victims Project of the Chabad Youth Organization, the flight was chartered for the sole reason of bringing family members to pray for a miracle at the holy site.

Sharabi’s visit to the Ohel echoes a pilgrimage made by fellow former hostage Noa Argamani in July 2024, following her rescue. Argamani, 26, was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Re’im music festival massacre on Oct. 7. Images and videos of her—some of the first released by Hamas on that day—pleading to her captors from the back of a motorcycle, her arm extended in hope and screaming “don’t kill me,” were some of the first markers of the brutality that would await the hostages, and she became a face of the hostage crisis. She was reaching out to Avinatan Or, 31, who was also kidnapped on that day. He is still held in captivity in Gaza, one of 24 of the remaining 59 hostages thought to be alive. A hostage that was recently released shared a sign of life from Or, the first since he was captured.

On the November trip to the Ohel, Noa’s father, Yaakov, was among the 170 family members who came to pray. He was famously pictured placing a photo of his daughter at the Ohel bearing the words “Bring Her Home Now.”

At the time, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky—a member of the Rebbe’s secretariat and chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Yisrael, Chabad’s respective educational and social-services arms—addressed the crowd with words of hope.

“Our days and our nights are focused in prayer, demanding that your loved ones—our loved ones—come home to you safe and sound, physically and spiritually,” Krinsky said.

At that point, Yaakov didn’t even know if his daughter was alive. But on June 8—245 days after she was taken into captivity—Argamani and three other hostages were rescued from Gaza in a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet and the Israeli Police.

Noa’s mother, Liora, who was terminally ill and had expressed her last wish was to see her daughter, held on to welcome back her daughter. She died three weeks later.

Weeks after her release, much like Sharabi and Troufanov, Berger and Shem Tov, Argamani visited the Ohel to express her gratitude to G‑d for her release, and pray that all hostages are freed in good health soon.

Prime Minister’s Wife Joins Hostage Families

Hostage families have also accompanied high-level Israeli officials on visits to the Ohel. Seven families of Israeli hostages kidnapped and taken into Gaza by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7 visited the Ohel on Sept. 24, 2024. They were joined there by Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the eve of her husband’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

The families traveled to New York together with the prime minister and the Israeli delegation.

Kobi Samerano, whose 21-year-old son Yonatan (Jonathan) disappeared from the Nova festival in Re’im on Oct. 7, was among them. In December, the Israeli government confirmed that Yonatan had been killed by Hamas terrorists, before his body was stolen into Gaza by an UNRWA employee.

“This was my first time visiting the Ohel,” Samerano told Chabad.org. “This felt like a strong hug; it strengthened us.”

Yael Goren-Hezkiya, head of the Government Policy and Foreign Relations Division in the Kidnapped, Missing and Returnees administration at the Prime Minister’s Office, said the visit to the Ohel was planned long ago. “This is something that the families very much wanted and asked for,” she said at the time.