Account from Captivity: ‘I Demanded Tefillin and Prayer Book and They Gave Them To Me’
Two days after he was released from two years of brutal torture in Hamas captivity, 22-year-old IDF tanker Matan Angrest shared a shocking yet inspiring account of his time in the tunnels in Gaza.
Angrest, who was abducted during a heroic battle in Nahal Oz on October 7th, 2023, recounted how he kept his spirits up with daily prayers, strong faith, and unwavering hope. “It was clear to me that I’d get out of captivity,” he said, “The place I was in was bombed, but I wasn’t hurt; it was a series of miracles.
Matan shared the story on Wednesday at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv, where he is hospitalized and receiving treatment for his severe wounds. He spoke with Tzili Schneider, Founder and CEO of the Kesher Yehudi organization, who presented him with a new pair of tefillin.
Angrest, who survived the initial explosion and was the only soldier to exit his tank alive, was abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip. His mother, Anat, shared this week that “Matan underwent very severe torture, “which included severe burns on his right arm and fingers, harm to his vision, and unlivable conditions. His father, Hagai, added that “they treated him like a captured soldier. His condition was very bad; they tortured him. He has a lot of injuries that occurred during the seven months after his abduction. He was taken from place to place, sometimes with seven other men in one pit, and he contended with isolation, starvation, and constant fear.”
Despite this, Angrest did not give up on his faith. Just one month after his abduction, when he was still in shock from what he went through, Angrest insisted on a spiritual routine. “I insisted on putting on tefillin and getting a prayer book and Tanakh (Bible),” he recounted. “I demanded from the captors to receive those things.” The captors complied with the request and brought him the items, including a prayer book that was given by a senior Hamas official himself.
From that moment on, prayer became an inseparable part of Matan’s daily routine in the dark and dank tunnels. “As part of my routine, I prayed three times a day, morning, afternoon, and night,” Angrest shared. “It protected me, it gave me hope.” He described how, despite the abuse, this faith became a source of strength: “It was clear that I’d get out of captivity. The place I was in was bombed, but I wasn’t hurt; it was a series of miracles.”
Tzili Schneider, Founder and CEO of the Kesher Yehudi organization, who heard his story firsthand, described him as “a true hero who held on to his Judaism even in hell. It was incredible to see Matan’s pure faith – how, amid the horrors of Hamas’s tunnels, he found immense inner strength and reconnected to faith and trust in the Creator.”
