A heartfelt kabbalas panim was held in Bnei Brak on Sunday for freed hostage Bar Avraham Kuperstein, who returned home after being held captive by Hamas in Gaza — the same young man for whom the Chareidi public had davened fervently for months.
Bar arrived together with his mother at Bnei Brak City Hall, where Mayor Hanoch Zeibert, Deputy Mayor Menachem Shapira, and City CEO Yisrael Ernstein warmly welcomed him at a special reception in the municipal council hall.
During brief remarks, Bar expressed deep gratitude, saying he knows it was the tefillos of Klal Yisroel that brought about his release from captivity.
The emotional highlight of the day came when Bar visited the home of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch. the Rosh yeshiva of Slabodka.
There, Bar recounted his experiences in Hamas captivity, describing how he kept Shabbos under horrific conditions deep underground. “I made Kiddush on water inside the tunnels,” he told the Rosh Yeshiva, explaining that he would sing zemiros Shabbos even in the darkness of captivity.
Journalist Yisrael Cohen, who accompanied the hostages’ families and attended the meeting, shared that Bar told the Rosh Yeshiva about a terrifying moment when a terrorist announced to the group of six captives that three of them would now be killed — and that they must choose who would live and who would die.
Bar said he recited Shema Yisroel without fear, feeling completely in the hands of Hashem. “In the end,” Bar recounted, “Baruch Hashem, we all survived.”
BNEI BRAK: United Hatzalah volunteers are accompanying freed hostage Bar Kuperstein, the son of United Hatzalah volunteer Tal Kuperstein, as he travels through the city.
וּפְדוּיֵי ה’ יְשֻׁבוּן וּבָאוּ צִיּון בְּרִנָּה
Welcome reception for freed hostage Bar Kuperstein held in Bnei Brak.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
11 Responses
“[T]he same young man for whom the Chareidi public had davened fervently for months.”
Is that really true? I know that there was general Tehilim said for “the Matzav”, but I never, in the past two years, heard the Mi Sheberach for captives said at any Chareidi Shul that I davened in. Was there some other Tefila for the hostages being said that I missed?
an Israeli Yid
Even the secular boy realized where his salvation comes, look how much respect he has for the rabbi. Unlike all the Despicable fools over here
I assume the photographer missed the pictures of the meaningful moment when Rosh Yeshiva putting on tefillin with him and saying Shema, or did that not happen?!
IsraeliShmad- people have many thoughts during their personal prayers including our holy rabbanim who has no doubt been praying for mercy on them the entire time. You on the other hand probably didn’t pray for them at all
To an AntiIsraeliYid,
Have you seen one Chareidi Shul in the world which didn’t say Tehilim after Davening for the hostages for the last two years?
Why these lies to saw discord in our beautiful Am Yisrael?
why does the rosh hayishiva want to talk to this freed hostage?
im simply curious, not trying to make trouble.
@reb”Emes” – smell any smoke around you? Because your pants seem to be on fire. Your name is clearly b’lashon sagi nahor.
To both you and @Ramchas – my comment was very specific – about Tefilos said b’tzibur for the return of the hostages. Of course many Chareidim davened individually for their return, and Tehilim was said at the end of Davening in many Chareidi shuls. But were there, in fact, any Tefilos said b’tzibur that were specifically for the return of hostages, and not just for the general “matzav”? I personally never heard this in the many times I was in Chareidi shuls – as compared to non-Chareidi shuls where they’d say a specific Mi Sheberach for the hostages. That was my question – the original quote implied that there were Tefilos b’Tzibur by Chareidim in particular for the return of the hostages – and I am asking for examples of that.
an Israeli Yid
IsraeliYid should become a Hamas captive as punishment for talking dirt against rabbis day and night. There should be no mercy on you
this is such a beautiful and heartwarming chizzuk
anIsraeliYid – Agam Berger’s mother begs to differ. My wife met her at a Tefillah and chizuk event on behalf of the hostages (shortly before her daughter was released), and she said explicitly that in her personal experience throughout her ordeal no segment of the population cared more, and certainly davened more, for the hostages than the Chareidim did.
@reb”Emes” – you really hate your fellow Jews, don’t you? Either that, or you have redefined “Jew” to mean “people who think like me only”. It’s a slippery slope you stand on. You may want to learn the Gemara in Brachos about Rav Meir and his wife Bruriah, when he was being bothered by some neighbors before you start cursing at those who have a different Shita than yours. I may consider your Shita and Hashkafa to be wrong and a distortion of Yiddishkeit – but I wish for your Teshuva, not your death or punishment.
@Yakov Yosef A – thank you for that – that is an interesting and relevant response. Did she mention specifics – i.e., Atzarot Tefila, specific tefilos/gatherings, and the like? I actually want to know this, and will be very happy if my impression from my experience was wrong.
an Israeli Yid