Even before Omer was released after 505 days in captivity, he became famous as the hostage who made kiddush on Friday nights. Kidnapped from the Nova music festival, 22-year-old Omer was originally held together with his friend Itay Regev, who was released in the first hostage deal in November 2023.
Upon his return, Itay told Omer’s parents Shelly and Malki that Omer had begun observing Shabbat in captivity. Though the Shem Tov family did not observe Shabbat fully, they always had a Shabbat dinner on Friday nights, where Omer would always make kiddush. While in Gaza, Itay and Omer spoke about how much they missed Friday nights at home.
“Creator of the World, thank you for being with me every moment!”
Soon afterwards, the terrorists that held them brought them a bottle of grape juice. Itay and Omer made sure to keep track of the days of the week. They saved the grape juice for Shabbat. When they received some salted pretzels, they scraped off the salt and saved it for Shabbat too. On Friday nights, they would cover their heads with pieces of toilet paper instead of a kippah, and Omer would recite kiddush. Then they would make a blessing on a pita and dip it in the salt from the pretzels.
Omer would also refrain from actions forbidden on Shabbat. Itay shared that in the place where they were held, the power would go out every evening at 5 PM. The hostages were given flashlights for their own use. On Shabbat, Omer refused to turn on his flashlight, remaining in the darkness.
As Omer’s family left no stone unturned advocating for his release, his mother Shelly also felt inspired to strengthen her connection to Judaism. Exactly a year before Omer’s release Shelly attended a Shabbat event for families of hostages, organized by the Kesher Yehudi movement, where she fully kept Shabbat for the first time in her life. “This was a Shabbat I will never forget,” Shelly wrote in a social media post on Friday before her son’s release.
“...On that day, I decided to keep Shabbat. Since then, I have kept Shabbat for a year, and more than I kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept me. And G-d willing, this Shabbat I will hug my Omer, exactly a year later. It’s amazing!”
After Omer was released and reunited with his family, his parents shared that Omer had grown stronger in captivity, despite losing significant weight. For much of his time in Gaza, he was held alone in a tunnel and was abused, deprived of food, and humiliated. Nevertheless, he retained his optimism and contagious smile.
Shelly publicly thanked G-d for answering her prayers and returning Omer home. She also expressed her gratitude to the late Ori Danino, who had saved Omer’s life at the Nova festival, was also taken hostage, and was murdered in captivity. Shelly thanked the Israeli government, the IDF, and everyone who was involved in bringing her son home.
In his first social media post since his release, Omer wrote, “Creator of the World, thank you for being with me every moment!” He also acknowledged Ori Danino and thanked the IDF. On the picture, he was wearing tefillin and a tallit.
