On Thursday the 28th of August, Cape Town welcomed survivor Or Levy, who was one of the longest-held hostages, released after 491 harrowing days in Hamas captivity. In a raw and honest account, Or shared his story with our community in an evening of profound testimony.
Many were rightly horrified in February this year when Or Levy was released alongside fellow hostages Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami after 491 days in Hamas captivity. The images of these gaunt, frail men reflected the horrors they had endured since being abducted by Hamas on that dark day, October 7th. Despite his weakened physical state, Or’s reunion with his family at Sheba Medical Centre was deeply moving; a testament to resilience and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Of particular emotional weight was his reunion with his young son, Almog, following the devastating confirmation that his beloved wife, Einav, had been murdered. As Or recounted, the pain of that moment, conveyed through his son’s words, was among the most unbearable of his ordeal. Yet, intertwined with that anguish was the profound elation of holding his child again and beginning the long, delicate process of reconnecting and getting to know him. The two are now inseparable.
In his talk Or recounted the harrowing details of Hamas’ co-ordinated attacks, which began the moment, quite literally at 6.29am, that he and his wife, Einav, arrived in the parking area at the Nova Festival. He described the terror of seeking shelter and the depraved cruelty of attackers firing on people trying to protect themselves, of realising Einav had been seriously wounded, and of being dragged away from her and into a vehicle destined for Gaza. Or also spoke of the danger he sensed from ordinary Gazans, realising that he could be lynched were it not for his ‘value’ to Hamas as a hostage. The deprivation he endured during captivity was inhumane: locked for most of his time in Gaza in the bowels of the earth in a dark terror tunnel the size of ‘a tomb’ with several other hostages, surviving on minimal food, denied sunlight and human dignity. Beyond the physical suffering was the need to bury his anguish for Einav in order to survive for his young son, Almog.
A striking act of memory and tribute that Levy shared was a tattoo inked on his arm carrying a quote echoed in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. These words sustained him during captivity. ‘He who has a why can bear with any how’, was originally said to him by fellow captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin Z’L on their 52nd day in captivity. Many in the audience became emotional when Levy gently told us he always knew that, when (if) he returned home, he wanted that sentence on his skin so that he would never forget its power – and the memory of Hersh, who was later murdered by Hamas.
The evening concluded with a deeply meaningful gesture: biscuits made from Einav’s beloved recipe, accompanied by the recipe, for attendees to take home and remember her by. Or Levy’s testimony left us with sorrow, yes, but more than that. It carried a powerful message of resilience and reminded us of our responsibility as a community to remain steadfast in our determination to bring all remaining hostages safely home. ●
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