Bar Kupershtein holds Slichot prayer service in Tel Aviv — Jerusalem Post
In Tel Aviv, Israel, former hostage Bar Kupershtein held a Slichot prayer service at Hostages Square. As reported by the Jerusalem Post, the event took place on Thursday evening as part of an evening of thanksgiving.
Kupershtein is a paramedic from Holon who was abducted during the October 7 attack on the Nova music festival. According to the publication, he was released in October 2025. His mother Julie and former hostage Rom Braslavski also attended the service.
Memories of captivity
During his speech, Kupershtein said that in captivity he realized what it meant to be at the very bottom — underground, in darkness, when no one can hear your voice. According to him, the captives fasted on Yom Kippur and prayed extensively, while faith was something that could not be taken from them.
He thanked Israeli society for supporting the hostages, as well as his family, God, the Israel Defense Forces and security forces that took part in bringing people back from captivity. Kupershtein separately mentioned people who have post-traumatic stress disorder or suffered physical injuries during the war.
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The former hostage also called for not forgetting those who did not return and Haimanot Kassau, a missing girl of Ethiopian descent who has been sought since February 25, 2024. He said that he knows what it means for a family not to know where its child is.
A call to remember the dead
In his speech, Rom Braslavski thanked Israeli citizens for fighting for the release of the hostages. He called Hostages Square a place that symbolizes war and pain, and urged people to honor the memory of those who did not return from Gaza alive.
Ayelet Samrano, the mother of slain hostage Yonatan Samrano, and Michel Iluz, the father of slain hostage Guy Iluz, also joined via a live connection from the Slichot prayer service near the Western Wall.
