Hostages and Families Celebrate Freedom with Expressions of Faith

by Mendel Scheiner – chabad.org

It was Nov. 20, 2023, barely a month after the brutal massacre of men, women and children in Israel. A large crowd gathered at the central Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, N.Y., their attention resting on a single man. Speaking at the farbrengen—a traditional Chassidic gathering—was a pleading father, releasing his pain into the microphone. Behind him, his son Yosef Chaim’s smiling face beamed from the stark black, red and white hostage poster.

A week earlier, Avraham Ohana was among the 170 family members of hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023 by Palestinian terrorists, who had traveled to the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to pray for the safe return of their loved ones. Ohana did not return home on the chartered flight, declaring, “I will remain in New York near the Rebbe until my son is free.”

Pulled by the palpable emotion, the crowd leaned closer and closer with every one of Ohana’s words. “I came to the Rebbe because I believe with full faith that my son is the son of the Rebbe, and the Rebbe will help me” by drawing down Divine intervention on his behalf. “And in the merit of this faith, may it be G‑d’s will that my son and all the hostages will be released to life and good days, from captivity to freedom, immediately!”

When the speech ended, Ohana declared that this farbrengen was a preemptive seudat hodaya, a meal of thanksgiving, in the merit of his son’s safe return.

For two years Ohana’s belief that his son would come home did not waver. Ahead of Sukkot of this year, approaching 730 days since he last spoke to his son Yosef Chaim, Ohana purchased a second set of the Four Kinds that are shaken together on Sukkot for his son, believing with perfect faith that his son would get to use them to fulfil the mitzvah in freedom.

On Oct. 13, Yosef Chaim Ohana was among the 20 living hostages in Gaza miraculously released. It was Hosahana Rabba, the last day of Sukkot. Videos taken from the reunification center at the Re’im army base shows Avraham Ohana preparing to meet his son, clutching the Four Kinds in his hands. When their eyes met, he cried out, “Shema Yisrael!” and embraced his son, weeping and refusing to let go. Yosef Chaim Ohana performed the mitzvah later that morning.

The hostages released on Monday come from the diverse kaleidoscope that is Israel’s Jewish community, but a theme seen throughout the reunions between the freed captives and their families was the cries of thanksgiving to G‑d when they shared their first moments together. Parents shouted Shema Yisrael and the Shehechiyanu blessing, said when celebrating a special and joyous occasion.

At the Sheba Medical Center, fellow hostage Rom Braslavski donned tefillin, which was among one of the first things he asked for after his release.

Shackled by all four limbs in a cramped one-by-one-meter cell and starved over the course of his two year captivity, Braslavski was pressured to convert to Islam. His captors promised him food and better conditions if he would renounce his faith. “What kept me there was knowing that I am Jewish. Hamas talked to us about Muhammad, about them being the right religion, a Jewish person must know that he is in a great place, that’s what kept me,” says Braslavski.

Yet Rom remained steadfast, repeatedly telling his mother: “I am Jewish. I am strong. I will not break.”

“The strength I found there,” Braslavski reflected, “came from knowing that everyone around me was not Jewish, and that the reason I was there, the reason for everything I endured, was because I am Jewish.”

His fellow freed hostage Segev Khalfon likewise wrapped tallit and tefillin. Khalfon had told his family members that the Shema prayer had kept him going when all hope was lost. Upon his release, Kalfon’s family helped him don a tallis and kippah on him before saying blessings of matir assurium, which thanks G‑d for freeing captives, and then the Shehecheyanu.

Like many other hostages, another freed Israeli found his connection to G‑d in the very heart of captivity.

Matan Angrest, 22, was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 from his tank near Nahal Oz after a fierce battle that left the rest of his tank crew dead. Despite being severely injured and subject to severe torture because he was a soldier, Matan maintained strong faith, describing parts of his experience as “a series of miracles.”

Just weeks after his abduction, Matan demanded his captors provide him with a siddur, Chumash and tefillin, and shockingly they complied, with the siddur coming directly from a senior member of Hamas. From then on, recalled Matan, “I prayed three times a day—morning, afternoon and night. It protected me; it gave me hope.” Before being discharged from hospital, he wrapped tallit and tefillin with Chabad Rabbi Pini Marton, and recited Psalm 100, the Psalm of Thanksgiving.

When Tal Kupershtein learned that his son, Bar Kupershtein, had been abducted by Hamas terrorists, he made a promise to himself and to his son.

Just a few years before Oct. 7, Tal had been in a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed and unable to speak.

Upon Bar’s release, his mother embraced him, crying “Shema Yisrael,” while his father, who had spent the past 738 days fighting to stand again, rose to his feet and wept on his son’s shoulder. During his captivity, Bar told his family that developed his relationship with G‑d. He would say Shema Yisrael often; he prayed and recited a chapter of Psalms he knew by heart.”

Shortly after his release, Bar released a video thanking all who fought and prayed for his return: “I want to say thank you very much to everyone who prayed, supported and didn’t give up. And, most importantly, thank you to the Creator, Father in Heaven.”