What a week it was, meeting two of the hostages who were recently released.
Since being in Palm Beach, I joined the Palm Beach Synagogue under the guidance of the extraordinary Rabbi Moshe Scheiner, whose sermons bring me to tears with their powerful messages. This week was no different. He had recently visited Israel and met the young couple that had been captured together, then kept apart and then separately released.
The Rabbi invited the engaged young couple to Palm Beach and I had the pleasure of meeting them.
Sapir Cohen was released first and she told the harrowing story of the fateful day, Oct. 7, when terrorists invaded the kibbutz where she was staying. She had spoken about the terrifying time hiding with her fiancé Sasha Troufanov under a bed and having to be silent, not even to say “I love you.” Within a few minutes, a terrorist broke down the doors and she could hear the gunfire all around them as they were pulled out from under the bed and brought to the courtyard. They were separated, not knowing what would happen to each other. Her hands were bound above her head and she was pushed onto a motorcycle between two men with rifles and driven into Gaza. There, the streets were filled with people cheering that she was captured and she felt more terrified with each passing moment. She believes it was her faith that kept her alive.
When she was released, she stayed with her fiancé’s mother, whose husband had been murdered on Oct. 7, and his grandmother. They were together and supported each other until her beloved fiancé was released. The horrors while they were in captivity can’t be repeated, but they are on a mission that their horrific journey was not in vain, and to turn it into good for the soldiers who have been injured, limbless and mentally traumatized.
It was an emotional moment when I sat down with Sapir and Sasha to talk about their plans for their future, helping injured IDF soldiers.
With tears in my eyes, I told them both how happy I was to see them returned to their loved ones and how we are supporting those hostages still in captivity who remain in hell. We have, on every one of our media’s mastheads, the Israeli flag in a ribbon with the words, “Bring the Hostages Home.” And now sitting before me were two of the people we wrote about in our “Meet the Hostages” column.
They were together on that fateful day of Oct. 7 when they were captured and separated. They spent over 400 days apart not knowing if each was alive. Sasha said he prayed that Sapir should find someone to love because he knew he was going to die!
But he didn’t. His father was killed and his mother and grandmother were taken hostage, but when the women were released, they consoled each other while waiting for Sasha to be freed.
When Sasha, Sapir and I sat quietly in the Palm Beach Synagogue library/study, they shared their vision and mission to move the publicity they are getting to shining the spotlight on the injured soldiers filling Israel’s hospitals.
Sapir, with sadness in her voice, told me how she wants her captivity not to have been in vain and they both want to use their painful experience to help others.
I shared with them how the pain of my daughter Lara’s brain damage inspired me to help other children like her and I created Life’s WORC with the help of friends. That group, which first started in my living room, now has helped thousands of families and people with special needs and has a budget of over $70 million.
I was impressed with Sasha and Sapir’s passion to have a purpose, as they told me they wanted to create a not-for-profit organization to help the many soldiers needing services.
After an hour meeting, I promised them to be available to help them in their powerful mission.
I think we all want to help. Keep you posted.
A few days before, in his Saturday sermon, Rabbi Scheiner talked about how the Jewish people have survived for centuries while other people like the Greeks and the Roman civilizations had disappeared.
He explained that what has kept the Jewish people alive is the “laws” they’ve learned from the Torah and the critical importance of family, community and generosity to your neighbors. It sounds so simple, but it’s so powerful! He then talked about how the hostages relied on family, community and generosity to survive by helping and inspiring each other every day in captivity.
A simple yet brilliant analysis of why, even after the atrocity of Oct. 7, the Jewish people will survive.
And Sapir and Sasha will be able to carry on. The community will be there to help them!
Love to you, my dear readers.
