What is it about faith that made those who survived the inferno choose it again?

A personal magazine feature by Tehila Chekol, a survivor of the Nir Oz massacre, examining the power of religious faith among survivors of Hamas captivity. The article combines personal stories of hostages who observed commandments in captivity (Kiddush, fasting, prayer) with the author's personal narrative, who survived because she stayed at her mother's home on Shabbat. The central message: faith is a survival force and refuge in the inferno.

A personal magazine feature by Tehila Chekol, a survivor of the October 7 massacre at Kibbutz Nir Oz, examining the power of religious faith as a survival and meaningful factor among survivors of Hamas captivity. The article combines personal stories of hostages who observed commandments in impossible conditions: Agam Berger who wrote in captivity 'I chose the path of faith, and by the path of faith I returned' and kept kosher and Shabbat; Bar Kupershtein who fasted with his friends on Tisha B'Av in a tunnel and served as a cantor; Ohad Ben Ami and Elkana Bohbot who held a Kabbalat Shabbat with a Kiddush on water; and Rom Braslavsky who refused to convert to Islam, saying 'I am a Jew, I will return as a Jew or die as a Jew.' In parallel, the author shares her personal miracle: she planned to return to Kibbutz Nir Oz that same Saturday, but her mother urged her not to desecrate Shabbat and to stay. She listened, and thus survived the massacre in which four of her students were kidnapped and many acquaintances were murdered. The central message of the article is that faith is not only a comfort but a survival force that allows a person to find light even in the greatest darkness. The article ends with the sentence: 'Where reason ends, faith begins.'