Former hostage Agam Berger opened up about observing religious holidays and keeping Shabbat during her time in captivity in an interview with N12 on Thursday.
Berger, who was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz base on October 7 by Hamas, described how she managed to obtain a prayer book while in captivity.
“Last January, the terrorists brought us a prayer book they found in the field,” she recalled. “They asked us what it was and then gave it to us. We used it throughout our captivity.”
She added, “They found all sorts of things the army had left behind—and just brought them to us. They also showed us maps they had found, thinking we could help them. Of course, we couldn’t.”
Berger described how she and the other female hostages observed Jewish holidays and tracked the calendar while being held.
“We celebrated most of the holidays. At times, we had access to a radio, and sometimes, we saw things on television that helped us track the date. We also had a foreign calendar,” she said.
“We missed both Hanukkah holidays, but we celebrated Passover, and I didn’t eat chametz. I asked for cornmeal, and the captors brought it to me. Somehow, they valued me more because I was religious.”
She continued, “They said all of Judaism is a lie, but they preferred someone who believes in God over someone who doesn’t. For them, there is no such thing as not believing in God.”
Keeping religious holidays
Berger also recalled how she kept Jewish fast days:
“I observed Yom Kippur, Ta’anit Esther, and Tisha B’Av (the ninth of Av). I asked God to give me a sign, and then, by chance, I saw the date ‘9th of Av’ appear on television. From there, we counted until the actual day.”
Berger spoke about the importance of Shabbat in helping her maintain a sense of normalcy and faith despite her captivity.
“I simply refused to light a fire on Shabbat. I didn’t watch TV on Shabbat. There were Shabbatot when I would even give up listening to the radio,” she recounted.
“At one point, they would bring us candles before Shabbat. We would listen to Galgalatz and know when Shabbat had begun. I took it upon myself to keep Shabbat.”
Learning she would be released
Finally, Berger described the moment she realized her fellow captives had been released and when she learned that she, too, would soon be going home.
“They didn’t let us watch the news for two weeks beforehand, so we wouldn’t realize we were going home,” she said.
“I was with Liri from the beginning, and the day before she was released, they told her to go film a video. She never came back. Until Tuesday, two days before I was freed, I didn’t know they had been released. I kept asking when Liri was coming back.”
She added, “On Tuesday, ‘someone important’ came and told me I was going home and that my friends were already home. They prepared me for the fact that there would be a lot of people at the release ceremony. I saw the girls coming out in the video, and I still couldn’t believe it would be like that.”
Jesus Christ is King
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