Freed Israeli hostage Agam Berger shares her story of faith, resilience, and spiritual freedom during her 482-day captivity in Gaza. As Passover approaches, she reflects on survival, religious devotion, and the ongoing plight of those still held by Hamas.
Agam Berger, one of the Israeli hostages recently freed from Hamas captivity, wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which she reflected on her 482-day ordeal, highlighting her unwavering spiritual resilience and deep connection to Jewish faith throughout the traumatic experience.
Berger was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists overran the Nahal Oz base. “Many of my friends were murdered,” she recalled. “In those harrowing moments, as I was being kidnapped, I had the freedom to choose what to say. I recited, continuously, the same verse that Jews on the threshold of death have said for millennia: ‘Shema Yisrael’, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’”
Though physically imprisoned, Berger said she never lost her spiritual freedom. “I learned, as my forebears did, that imprisonment can’t overwhelm the inner spiritual life. Our faith and covenant with God… is more powerful than any cruel captor,” she wrote.
Berger described efforts by her captors to force religious conversion, including attempts to coerce her into Islam and making her wear a hijab. Despite this, she remained steadfast in her observance of Jewish rituals.
“I chose to observe every Jewish fast possible,” she wrote. “I kept kosher, which at times meant refusing nonkosher meat when I was hungry. I chose not to light a fire on Shabbat to cook for my captors.”
She also described her ingenuity in preserving her religious practice. “They eventually abandoned a siddur, a Jewish prayer book, for which I fashioned a protective case out of the leg of a tattered and unwearable pair of pants.”
Berger spent part of her captivity with fellow IDF lookout Liri Albag, and the two marked Passover together last year.
“We cleaned our room and adorned the table with napkins and other small ‘decorations’ made from scraps of paper. As a surprise, Liri wrote me a makeshift Passover Haggadah,” she shared. They heard news of solidarity back home when “people had set us a table in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. Liri listened to her mother’s voice on the airwaves. We cried, then sat down to eat our own ‘bread of affliction.’”
While she celebrates Passover this year at home, Berger remains painfully aware that others are still captive. “There are 59 hostages still held in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. This is their second Passover in chains of iron. We can’t allow a third,” she wrote.
Her op-ed ends with a powerful reminder: “There is now a new, painful command: ‘Remember Oct. 7.’”While she celebrates Passover this year at home, Berger remains painfully aware that others are still captive. “There are 59 hostages still held in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. This is their second Passover in chains of iron. We can’t allow a third,” she wrote.
Her op-ed ends with a powerful reminder: “There is now a new, painful command: ‘Remember Oct. 7.’”
