In the few short days since the return of the 20 hostages – who had been held in Gaza for two full years to the date – one powerful story after another has begun to emerge.

Besides their incredible survival in the face of torture and deprivation, stories are coming out of unwavering emunah, deep mesirus nefesh, and an unshakable connection to Hashem, forged and tested under constant threat, abuse, starvation, and isolation.

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Rom Braslavski, who was abducted on October 7 from the Nova music festival where he had been working as a security guard, was held for over 730 days. During his captivity, he was shackled by all four limbs in a cramped one-by-one-meter cell and starved over the course of his two year captivity, and was repeatedly pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for food and basic comforts. He was tortured, beaten, and subjected to brutal psychological abuse – yet he refused to surrender. For two years, he held firm.

“What kept me there was knowing that I am Jewish”, Braslavski said. “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,”

Upon his return to his family, he kept repeating over and over, “I’m a Jew!” The very first thing he asked to do in the hospital was to put on tefillin and daven.

“The strength I found there,” Braslavski said, “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.”

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Rom was not the only one who was threatened and pressured to abandon his Jewishness.

Yosef Chaim Ohana, also taken from the Nova music festival, described how he and another hostage were pressured to convert to Islam as well. At one point, they were forced to listen to Muslim prayers and Islamic messaging on a radio around the clock.

But when the guards weren’t paying attention, they managed to tinker with the wires and pick up an Israeli station – where Yosef heard his own father being interviewed. That moment gave him renewed strength. Despite the relentless attempts to break his spirit, he didn’t give in.

When he finaly reunited with his father and their eyes met, his father cried out, “Shema Yisrael!” and embraced his son, weeping and refusing to let go. Yosef Chaim then performed the mitzva of Lulav and Esrog with a set that had been prepared for him earlier that week by his father who never gave up hope.

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Matan Angrest, a 22-year-old IDF soldier, was captured after his tank was hit in Nahal Oz – where he was the only survivor from his crew – and survived two years of brutal treatment in Gaza. Matan had strong faith, describing his experience as “a series of miracles.” Starved, kept in isolation, beaten repeatedly, Matan described how it was tefillin and Hashem that kept him going.

“Even in that nightmare,” he said, “I needed to stay connected. I demanded tefillin, a siddur, and a Tanach. For some unexplained reason, they brought them. From that day on, I prayed three times a day – morning, afternoon, and night. It gave me strength. It protected me.”

When he returned to Eretz Yisroel, he immediately requested a new pair of tefillin to replace the ones he had lost. His doctors reported that while his body had suffered tremendously, his spirit remained remarkably strong. His mother said it simply: “He suffered unimaginable torture, but his belief in Hashem kept him alive.”

Before being discharged from hospital, he put on tefillin with shliach Rabbi Pini Marton, and they recited tehilim together.

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Segev Kalfon, 27, was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Nova Music Festival and was held under extremely harsh conditions, suffering severe abuse, starvation, and psychological trauma. Kalfon told his family that saying Shema Yisrael kept him going when all hope was lost.

Upon his release, his family helped him put on a tallis and yarmulke before reciting the bracha of Matir Asurim – thanking Hashem for freeing captives – followed by the Shehecheyanu. Later, he was filmed davening with tallis and tefillin together with fellow released hostage Rom Braslavski.

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Bar Kuperstein, a 21-year-old also taken hostage from the Nova music festival, described his experience as being in “the deepest concealment” – “hastara mitoch hastara” – but even there, he said, he found that Hashem was with him. Upon returning home after his long ordeal, he discovered that his father, who had been paralyzed for six years, had miraculously regained the ability to stand. 

During his captivity, Bar told his family that he would say Shema Yisrael often and say a perek of tehilim 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.”

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These are only a few of the stories that have emerged so far. They join the many others that came out from hostages released earlier in the war. And with every passing day, more details of the heroic mesirus nefesh of these holy and precious neshamos continue to come to light.

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