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)