In the suffocating darkness of a Hamas tunnel, hundreds of feet beneath Gaza’s surface, a young Israeli man clutched a worn pamphlet like a lifeline. For 27 agonizing days, Omer Shem Tov had heard the tanks of Israeli soldiers overheadāso close he could almost touch freedom, yet impossibly far away. When the sounds finally faded and the soldiers moved on, his captors brought him something they thought might be useful: leftover reading material the troops had abandoned, asking him to translate what they assumed were military codes.
Among the scattered papers was a simple Chabad pamphlet discussing the weekly Torah portion. Omer’s heart raced as he opened it to find the story of Josephāthrown into a pit by his own brothers, sold into slavery, imprisoned on false charges, yet ultimately rising to become second-in-command of Egypt. In that moment, trapped in his own modern-day pit, Omer found something more powerful than any military strategy: hope rooted in ancient wisdom.
Omer Shem Tov wasn’t particularly religious before October 7th, 2023. Like many young Israelis, he had faith in God but didn’t live by strict religious observance. He was simply a young man enjoying life at the Nova music festival when Hamas terrorists shattered his world and dragged him into captivity. But sometimes it takes our darkest moments to reveal the light we carry within us.
During his months in captivity, Omer discovered that survival wasn’t just about enduring physical hardshipāit was about nurturing the soul. Cut off from everything familiar, he began reconnecting with religious rituals and prayers he had learned in childhood but rarely practiced. Each ritual became an act of resistance, each prayer a declaration that his spirit remained unbroken.
The pamphlet became his treasure. He read it thousands of times, absorbing every word, every glimmer of meaning. The story of Joseph spoke directly to his situation with uncanny relevance. Like Joseph, Omer had been torn from his life without warning. Like Joseph, he had been thrown into a pit and found himself at the mercy of those who saw him as less than human. And like Joseph, he held onto the belief that this darkness was not the end of his story.
These words from the Hebrew Bible weren’t just ancient history to Omerāthey were a mirror reflecting his own experience. Joseph’s story reminded him that even in the deepest pit, even in the darkest prison, the presence of the Divine never abandons us. It transforms us, prepares us, and ultimately lifts us higher than we ever imagined possible.
The irony wasn’t lost on him that his captors, in their attempt to decode what they thought were military secrets, had inadvertently given him the most powerful weapon of all: spiritual sustenance. They couldn’t understand that these weren’t battle plans written on paper, but battle plans written on the heartāstrategies for enduring the unendurable, for finding light in absolute darkness.
Every time Omer reopened that pamphlet, he wasn’t just reading wordsāhe was joining a conversation that stretched back thousands of years. He was connecting with Joseph in his Egyptian prison, with his ancestors who had faced persecution and emerged stronger, with every person who had ever found themselves in an impossible situation and discovered that faith could be their compass home. And ultimately, He was connecting with God.
His physical freedom would eventually come, but his spiritual liberation had already begun in that tunnel. Through reconnecting with his heritage and embracing the power of ritual and prayer, Omer didn’t just survive his captivityāhe discovered parts of himself he never knew existed.
Omer Shem Tov’s extraordinary courage in the face of unimaginable suffering shows us the incredible power of faith and spiritual connection to sustain the human spirit even in the most desperate circumstances. It teaches us that no darkness is absolute, no situation beyond the reach of hope. In witnessing his remarkable spiritual journey through such extreme adversity, we’re reminded of the profound strength that can emerge when we connect with something greater than ourselves.
