UJA presents: Omer Shem Tov

Episode 151: In February 2024, during the live taping of our 100th episode, Modi was asked who his "dream guest" for the podcast would be. His answer? Omer Shem Tov, a Hamas hostage in Gaza. A year later, on February 22, 2025, Omer was finally released after 505 days in captivity. Tune in to this special live episode, brought to you by UJA Federation New York, as Omer shares his remarkable story of survival, hope, and #MoshiachEnergy. 

Modi's special "Know Your Audience" is available on YouTube now!
For all upcoming shows visit www.modilive.com.
Follow Modi on Instagram at @modi_live.
Send us a voicemail!

Send us a text

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Please welcome Periel .

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Ashenbrand, producer and co-host of the and here's
Modi podcast.
Hi everyone.
I was asked to start this bytelling you that you're not

(00:26):
allowed to videotape anything.
So you're not allowed tovideotape anything.
I'm Perrielle and I am theco-host and producer of the and
here's Modi podcast.
And for those of you who haveno idea why you're here, I'm

(00:48):
about to tell you.
Three years ago, I was sittingin the comedy cellar with Modi
when he told me he wanted tostart a podcast, but he said he
wanted it to be something light.
So here we are, three yearslater, advocating for human

(01:14):
hostages to be released fromtunnels in Gaza.
What could be lighter than that?
It wasn't always like this.
Historically, we've had thedistinct pleasure of having a

(01:34):
wide array of incredible guestson.
The truth is, is we kind ofhave our pick?
I don't mean to sound immodest,but people want to talk to us,
or they want to talk to Modi andthey have to talk to me.
We get pitched pretty regularly.

(01:55):
Have this one, have that one.
You should be talking aboutthis.
You should be talking aboutthat.
As a Jewish podcast, we have alot of Jewish listeners, which
means we get a lot ofunsolicited advice You're not
spending enough time talkingabout three-legged transgender

(02:15):
dogs.
You're spending too much timetalking about three-legged
transgender dogs.
It never ends.
But Modi's not really thatinterested in talking about
three-legged transgender dogs.
Modi is really only interestedin talking about a very specific

(02:36):
range of topics, and at the topof that list.
You might want to answer thatI'm sure it's important, but at
the top of his list of hisall-time favorite topic is
something he calls Mashiachenergy.
What is Mashiach energy, youask?

(03:00):
It is the energy of oneness, itis the energy of us all coming
together.
But it's more than that too.
In every moment, we can chooseor not to create Mashiach energy
.
For example, modi tells mePeriel, if you choose to not be

(03:24):
such a bitch to the other momsat your son's school, that's
Moshiach energy.
Sometimes people can beMoshiach energy because they
radiate light, because by thevery nature of their being, they

(03:47):
bring people together.
So everyone was having fun andthen October 7th happened.
Immediately we, like so manyothers, began doing whatever we
could to try to advocate for thehostages, and one day I got a
message.
I get lots of messages, butthis one pinged up and it said

(04:07):
if you and Modi are interestedin helping to advocate to bring
Omer and the other hostages homeand have one of our family
members on your podcast.
We need all the support we canget Liat, omer's cousin.
She is a lioness.

(04:33):
Shortly thereafter we did haveher on the show and in fact I
have a picture of her and Modiand I from almost exactly one
year ago today, holding a posterof Omer.
Even from the darkness of thetunnels in Gaza, omer was

(04:55):
radiating light.
It was no wonder Shelley callshim Yeled Shel Shemesh.
So one of the things thathappened on October 7th was that
it made us, a Jewish community,much stronger.
It united us and it bound us toeach other.
All the way in New York City,we saw Omer everywhere.

(05:19):
Even though we never met him,we were bound to him.
My 11-year-old son and his 5thgrade class wrote letters to
Omer on Hanukkah the miracle oflight.
One of the kids wrote Dear Omer, I really hope you can come
home to your family soon.
Everybody is thinking about youand we hope that these letters

(05:48):
will bring light to your life.
My son, ari, wrote Dear Omer,we are praying for you to come
home.
Circle the best one, ronaldo orMessi.
Funny, not only did Ari have somuch faith that Omer was coming
home and that I would be ableto get these letters to him, but
he also seemed very confidentthat Omer would answer this

(06:10):
question and send the letterback.
The innocence of a child orwise beyond his years, omer lit
something up in all of us.
There was a little boy in Ari'sclass who passed away of cancer
.
His mother is actually heretonight.

(06:31):
When Eli passed, she flew toIsrael in the middle of her
grief, in the middle of a ragingwar, and she went straight to
Shiva Hospital and, through thefund that she and her family
formed, they funded birthdayparties for the next 10 years so
that every child Israeli andPalestinian with cancer at the

(06:55):
hospital will get a birthdayparty Of all people.
She met and connected withShelley on that trip and Omer

(07:18):
was released on Eli's birthday.
Omer showed us that there aremiracles everywhere and we are
all connected, and sometimes outof the greatest darkness comes
the brightest light.
Last year, on October 7th, Istood with Modi and Liat and
Rabbi Bellino hi Gav and I saidthe same thing that I'm saying

(07:39):
right now, which is that eachand every single one of us must
do whatever they can to advocatefor the 58 hostages who remain
in Gaza.
All of this to say that, forall of the celebrities and
everyone we've had on the showand everyone who wants to come
on the show, whenever anyoneasks who is Modi's dream guest,

(08:14):
he always said Omer Shemtov.
We've been very lucky on thispodcast to have so many
incredible guests.
Yes, but one question that weget all the time is who is
Modi's dream guest?
Like who?

Speaker 3 (08:31):
would you?
Is there somebody in the worldtoday?
Yeah, I never am able to answerthis question, but lately I'm
going to tell you who my dreamguest is.
There is a hostage in Gaza.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
I think we have a picture of him.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I don't know, there are many hostages and this one
face.
Wherever I go, for some reason,I see this on the wall by our
house.
It was on for a long time andthen they painted over the wall.
It was on and I said, oh wow,I'm not going to see his face
anymore.

(09:08):
And then I was invited to themayor's house for the candle
lighting and his family wasthere with a big poster of him,
omer Shemtov.
Not only that, he's a spittingimage of my closest friend's son
.
I see him, I see her son and it.
See him.
I see her son and it.
Just if I had any wish rightnow is that he'd be sitting

(09:40):
right here instead of where he'ssitting.
Thank you, thank you very much,thank you, thank you, thank you
, thank you.

(10:04):
Welcome to the podcast.
We'll start with the bracha.
We can't.
How do you start this?
How do you start this?
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinumelech olam Shechiyanu
v'kiyimanu v'giyanu lezman hazeh.
Amen, that's it.
You see how powerful your wordsare.

(10:24):
You see how powerful your wordsare.
You see how powerful what youwish for it comes true.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
It comes true.
Yes, it does, it does.
I agree with you completely.
Everyone here.
Thank you, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank
you.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
They asked me how are you going to start this, how do
you start this interview, howdo you start this podcast?
The easiest way to startanything is by what the
Lubavitcher Rebbe said.
You went to the grave of theRebbe, the Ohel of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe and theLubavitcher Rebbe.
People used to stand in lineand see him and they would get a

(11:07):
dollar from him, and thatdollar was to go help somebody
else, right?
So whenever two people meet,the first thing they should do
is discuss how to help somebodyelse.
So he would give them a dollar,and then that was to help, and
then he would give them a dollar, and then that was to help with
the business, and then he wouldsay blessings and success.

(11:29):
Now I am of an age a little bitolder than yours, yeah, I beat
and was able to actually go andget a dollar from the Rebbe.
Many times we have a picture ofme receiving a dollar from the
Rebbe and that exact same dollarI framed for you.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
For me.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
For you.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
This is the second dollar of all of my dollars I've
given out.
My first dollar I gave to myhusband and it's in the bottom
of his book bag.
Kills me every time, but it iswhat's generating his laptop.
So all of the Mashiach, energyof all the shows and everything

(12:27):
is for this.
So now, who are we going tohelp 58 hostages?

Speaker 1 (12:33):
58 remaining hostages .

Speaker 3 (12:37):
And it could happen like that.
It could happen like that.
You happened like that, exactly, yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
You're right, it can happen.
Yeah, you're right, it canhappen like that.
You happened like that Exactly.
Yeah, you're right, it canhappen.
You're right, it can happenlike this.
It's a consciousness.
Yeah, exactly, I feel like wehave this power.
You know, we can make thingshappen.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Absolutely.
That's it.
With a little energy, it'senergy and energy.
It's Mashiach energy and we seethat with UJA, which I swore I
was going to stop saying UJA Idon't like saying the initials
it's the United Jewish Appeal.
Do we go ahead, clap, you canclap, for that it is.

(13:23):
It's so.
It's so huge when you thinkabout it, the United Jewish
Appeal.
And I explained to the boardall of the important people on
the board that the appeal is notto the Jews.
We're not appealing to the Jews.
Can you please send money andmake a donation?

(13:43):
When you think of UJA, it's aUJA dinner and we're going to
ask you for money.
It's not.
It's not.
The United Jewish Appeal is theappeal to God.
You've given the money.
You made your donation.
You made your whatever you makea year, you gave it to the
United Jewish Appeal to God.

(14:05):
We said to God here, here's ourmoney.
We're going to go help theforum, the hostage forum that
your parents put together, theJews united, and they gave money
to the hostage forum.
It's the posters.
You see, your face waseverywhere.

(14:27):
It was Mashiach energyeverywhere, every hostage.
Is you to be the spokesperson?
Are you not the spokesperson?
Right now I'm trying to be.
You know You're killing it.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Thank you, thank you thank you.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
You're giving him a round of applause.
You're killing it.
They bring him every day tofive different schools.
Then they bring him to afundraiser of lawyers of New
York Could you imagine anythingmore?
And they leave you up there.
They just say what was lifelike before October 7th?

(15:04):
He's got to sit there and do awhole Haftorah.
You're doing amazing.
We're so proud of you.
You're the face of the hostages.
That it says when you come outof those tunnels, it can be okay
, it can be okay.
And it's also you're alsosaying that some of the hostages
that came out did not come outokay, it can be okay.

(15:24):
And it's also you're alsosaying that some of the passages
that came out did not come outokay, they're going through it.
There's a movie out called theChildren of October 7.
Wow, it lets you know that thework is nowhere near done
Nowhere near done.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah you're right.
I do believe that energy and,you know, positive thinking can
bring you to great places, as Idid, as my mom and my dad have
done, yeah, but there are stillpeople that are hurt those who

(16:04):
got out and those who are still.
You know people that are hurtthose who got out and those who
are still there.
Yeah.
They're still getting hurt.
But I know some people, yeah,some of the survivors, that they
just can't go on, and it's notonly them, it's their families
as well.
You know, it's not only them,it's their families as well.

(16:26):
So I really feel like we haveto keep praying for them, for
those who are there and forthose who are out there.
I feel like I'm blessed.
I have a big schut that I cango out and speak and do and I
just I thank God.
You know it's, I didn't know Ihave this kind of powers inside

(16:51):
of me, but Hashem sent it to me.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
Absolutely.
Yeah, hashem put that andyou're a kli, a keli, a vessel,
and God put that gift inside ofyou that you can be that person
in a generation.
You don't understand how deepit is.
I'm older than you.
I'm a little bit older than you, a bit a bit.
Yeah, you are the Elie Wieselof this generation.

(17:21):
Thank you, elie Wiesel.
When we were in high school,elie Wiesel came to speak at our
high schools and told us of theatrocities of the war, of World
War II and the Holocaust, andit's incredible.
I just spoke to you.
You told me now that you'veonly been out of captivity for

(17:46):
just three months and your storyis out.
When the survivors got out ofthe camps, they didn't talk
about it.
No one spoke about what hadhappened, it was just they kept
quiet, they wanted to get onwith their lives.
And then a big event thathappened was the Adolf Eichmann

(18:07):
trials in Israel, where thesurvivors screamed out of what
happened.
And then later on, we had ElieWiesel who, like you again,
besides telling the story ofwhat happened with his book
Night, always had a positive andbelieved in humanity.
And you do I do.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
I do believe in humanity, and you do, I do.
I do believe in humanity, I dobelieve in our way of peace, you
know.
Yes.
But thank you.
Thank you for the compliment.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
I'm just bringing it to the surface.
I'm letting you know that I'msitting here with.
I'm letting you know what Ithink I'm sitting with.
I'm sitting with this person ofthis generation.
That's unbelievable.
And it's the other thing I wantto tell you, and you begin to

(18:59):
understand this, because youwent to the five towns.
Yeah, I did.
I grew up there Before itbecame Meir Sharim.
It used to not be thatreligious.
It used to be very, very easy.
Now you went there and peoplewere asking you for blessings.

(19:20):
So I told you there was a rabbi, another big rabbi, that said
if you ever see somebody with atattoo meaning a survivor, and
they're still praying, theystill pray and believe in God.
This is somebody that can givebrachot.
And so when people come to youand ask you, can you please give
us a blessing?
It's no joke.

(19:40):
It's no joke.
You have that ability, baruchHashem.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
For me it it's no joke, it's no joke.
You have that ability.
Baruch Hashem, baruch Hashem,baruch Hashem.
For me it seems kind of odd togive out blessings.
I didn't do it before.
I was, you know.
But yeah, I was driving aroundwith my mom and my dad and my
friend Dovi is here in the crowdsomewhere I don't know where,

(20:07):
and we're driving in five townand my friend is telling me
listen, this is like the coldestplace on earth.
And I opened the windows and heputs like music, yeah, and we
drive around and I scream topeople on the street Good
Shabbos, good Shabbos.

(20:28):
And then we stop at this place.
There was like 200 people and Iget out of the car and they're
all asking for blessings, likeyou've said.
And then it was too much for mefor a second and I grabbed the
mic and I told the speaker Now Iwill give you all a blessing

(20:51):
and I gave them a good blessingfor the woman and the man and
the briyot.
And it's amazing to see that,no matter where you are in the
world, you feel the love.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Absolutely the Jewish community.
There's nothing like it.
There's nothing like it,nothing, nothing.
I'm so blessed that this is myaudience.
This is my audience, this is myaudience, and there's 800 that
are on a waiting list to come in.
I'm telling you, I told youbackstage, you have the

(21:27):
attention of a nation.
You have the attention of anation.
I'm going to give you a secret.
Make them laugh.
It's not hard.
A 90-year-old man marries a 60year old woman.
On the wedding day she saysMorris, come upstairs and make

(21:50):
love to me.
Morris says I can't do both.
It's not hard, shelly, did youunderstand that?
It's the words of theAshkenazis.
You know for me.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
It's a bit hard, you understand that it's the jokes
of the Ashkenazis.
You know, for me it's a bithard to understand why?
Because you know, I'm MoroccanA.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Moroccan would have gone right up.
He would have gone right up.
He would have gone right upthere.
Okay, amen, amen, amen.
And, like me, I also, in themiddle of the show, I pick up my
water and make Shehakol In themiddle of.
It's the best.
We were just in Europe, we justdid a show.

(22:33):
I just had a show in Warsaw andin Munich and in Frankfurt and
in Geneva and Antwerp thereparations tour and we were in

(22:54):
Warsaw and there's a museumcalled Polin, the Polin Museum,
and it's a thousand years of theJewish history.
It's a thousand years and themuseum is set like this so you
see the history of where theJews were and where they're
going and who the this empireand the Ottoman Empire and the
Roman Empire and the Persian andthe Franco, and where the Jews

(23:16):
ended up during all of these.
All those empires are gone.
There's not one Ottoman.
Ever I didn't meet anybody fromthe Ottoman Empire.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
We don't go nowhere, we, we don't go nowhere.
There's not one Ottoman ever.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
I didn't meet anybody from the Ottoman Empire.
We don't go nowhere.
We don't go nowhere.
No, the Ottoman now is what youput your foot on.
And Roman Empire Leo and I werein Berlin.
We met two guys from Rome butthey were not from an empire,
they were just from Rome and theJews.
What happened to them and howthey got split and we got to

(23:48):
where?
The Holocaust, and then Israel.
And then now I told the womanthere's a space now for what
happened, October.
She says, yeah, they're goingto add now a place for the
events of what happened.
And I said and after that, justleave space.
They called it eras this era.
Just leave space for the.
They called it eras this era,that era for the messianic era.

(24:09):
Now we just have to preparethat.
We we're, we passed this andnow we're going to go into the
messianic era.
That's what we need.
Am I right or wrong?
You're right.
You're absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
I agree.
I agree with you 100%.
It's this I think everythinghappens for a reason.
Yeah, I always believed, duringthe time that I was there as
well.
You know that I'm in this kindof a path.
Yeah, God is doing everythingfor a reason.

(24:43):
There is a reason foreverything, so I believe we are
very close to this.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
Amen, the path, the stories.
There are so many of thestories, the ones that got me
the story of you getting theParashat HaShavua of Joseph.
Can you tell us?

Speaker 1 (25:04):
what happened?
Yeah, so I was in a new place,in a new tunnel, and the army
was in the area and it was therefor 27 days.
And after those 27 days, theterrorists, they went up and
they looked around the area tosee what they can find, why they
can fight, and they broughtback some sacks with some food

(25:28):
and some stuff and they broughtlike a pile of book.
One of those books was a DvarMalchut from Chabad with the
Parashat HaShavua.
And you know, I tell theterrorist.
He asked me what are thosebooks?
They thought maybe it'sinstructions for something.

(25:50):
And I tell them what the booksare and he takes it away from me
and I go up to him and I tellhim listen, I'll do anything,
anything, I'll cook and I'llclean and I'll work as hard as
you need me to just let me havethis book, this one book, this
Dvar Malchut.

(26:13):
And we had a deal and he bringsme this whole pile of books and
I opened the Dvar Malchut.
And the Dvar Malchut is aboutJoseph who is going inside the
pit and he's becoming the king.
At the end of the he comes outand becomes a king, and for me

(26:35):
it was.
You know, it's like, wow, it'sa message from God, you know.
So I was imagining myselfcoming out of the pit and
becoming a king and BaruchHashem, you know I'm here, the
pit and becoming a king andBaruch Hashem, you know, I'm
here.
Maybe I'm not a king, but ohyou're a prince.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
A prince, you were buried alive.
But you weren't buried alive,you were planted.
You were planted like a seedand a king came out.
A prince came out.
Yes, and you are a prince.
They took you, no, like a seed,and a king came out.
A prince came out, yes, and youare a prince.
They took you.
No, a prince, you are Joseph.
If you don't know the story,joseph has the brothers.
You remember the brothers?

(27:16):
They didn't get along.
They didn't have a good lawyer,it wasn't good, and they sold
him and then they put him into ajail jail and he was there for
12 years, right, 12 years.
And then they took him out andhe had a dream, whatever it was,
and then he became the king ofthe jail.

(27:38):
And you, you know, besideshaving the and he has a million
stories like this there were 505days of stories like this,
right, and you know, besidesyour introduction, there were
505 days of stories like this.
Right, you're right and youknow, besides your introduction,
when we were thinking of, youknow, the hostage of 505 days,
the son of the founders of thehostage forum as the title of

(28:00):
your.
Also, you did payroll for Hamas.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yes, I did, yeah one time.
I did yeah one time.
One of the terrorists he comesin and he comes with this big
garbage bags, yeah, and he poursout those garbage bags and it's
millions, millions of.
You know it's Israeli shekel.
Yeah, and a bit of dollars aswell, and they and I start

(28:31):
counting money.
You know, I made the payrollsto the Hamas terrorists and it
was crazy At first.
I wanted to take some formyself, yeah, but I couldn't.
I tried, I really tried.
So did you package?
Yeah, but I couldn't.
I tried, I really tried.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
So how did you package it Like?
Did they tell you the amountsto put it in?

Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, they told me the amounts and how to divide it
, because you know they all wantthe 200s and the 50s, so I had
to divide it like 50-50.
So it will be even for everyone.
And I counted the money.
This is what I did.
This was part of my job.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Payroll.
You did payroll for Hamas.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Did they do overtime?
Was there overtime pay?

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Over overtime.
You know For them.
They are depressed, they are,they are.
I think they are done.
They are done, are I thinkthey're done.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
They're done.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, they're done.
I've seen them in their worst.
I've seen them in their worst,depressed.
You know.
They didn't give a shit aboutthe money anymore.
It's not about the money.
They wanted to leave and theycouldn't.

(29:51):
They're stuck in their own jailcell and with them there's 58
hostages, you know.
So I don't think that we canend the Hamas while they're
still there.
I really do think that we canget them out, and after this

(30:15):
they'll make a mistake.
Yeah, it's just a matter oftime.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
Right, and so one of the things that of course,
people asked you and thepresident asked you did anybody
show you any love?
Was there any?
You know, when you see thestories from the Shoah, from the
Holocaust, there was somebodythat hid them, somebody brought
them food.
Was there any of that?
Did anybody like connect withyou?

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I was okay, so I was very strategic.
Yeah as soon as I got there toit was after 100 days I was I
came to a second tunnel and assoon as I got there I understood
that I have to make this somesort of connection to survive.
And there was this one.

(31:05):
There was this one person.
I wouldn't say he was nice, buthe wasn't bad as the others.
And that's a crazy story,because I didn't understand how
he could be a Hamas terrorist.
He looked like a Hamasterrorist, yeah, but he loved

(31:27):
Billie Eilish.
He used to talk about BillieEilish all day long.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
This is when Leo whispers in my ear.
That's the songda-da-da-da-da-da-da Continue.
I know who.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Billie Eilish is.
But you know, with all thefunny jokes, no, no, no, no.
Every time there was a bit ofsomething that I thought maybe
there is a bit of humanity therewasn't, it always ended with a
curse or with a spit or thembragging of the 7th of October.

(32:08):
There was no humanity it'sunbelievable.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
so I mean, I don't know, how does this end?
How does this?
The one thing I?
I listened to a podcast forfour hours that Jared Kushner
spoke and he's the president'sson-in-law.

(32:35):
He's the founder of the AbrahamAccords.
He's Ivanka's husband.
Yeah, I understood.
I didn't know where it would go.
And the one takeaway from fourhours of listening to this
podcast is that everybody has tocome out a winner, everybody.

(32:58):
They can't be a loser.
So when we received you, whenyou and the hostages that you
came out, we won.
We got Omer Shem Tov.
How many were released with you?
33.
32?

Speaker 1 (33:09):
33.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
Right.
So we had a victory, we won.
The souls are here.
They received 500 people, sothey won.
Everybody won.
Everybody has to come out awinner.
They can't be losers, you can't.
You know Egypt and this hit methe other day too Egypt and
Israel have a treaty, years fromSadat and Menachem Begin, that

(33:39):
little moment of Moshiach energythat there was, that signing at
the White House.
One of the reasons I think theyhave that kind of relationship
is because, from the Sinai War,the Egyptian War, israel won, we
won.
We killed all their tanks, wekilled all their air force.
We got this and then we gavethem back the land.

(34:00):
Do you know that in Cairothere's a museum showing that
they won?
They celebrated they won, wow,that they won.
They celebrate that they won.
Wow.
Gesundheit, you won, you won,you won.
As long as no one's shootinganybody and killing anybody.
We all won.
Exactly, you're right, we allhave to.
Just it's not, I don't know.

(34:20):
Another thing that blew my mindfrom all the stories you told
was the darkness.
The darkness Do you want totell?
Yeah, of course I can.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
It's a bit dark there so I don't know, I can't really
see there, but after Itay left,it was after 53 days.
Itay was a hostage as well, andhe was released.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
Your friend, Itai your two friends.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Yeah, exactly.
So there was Maya and Itai.
They're brothers, they'rebrother and sister, and Maya was
my good friend and Itai I'veonly seen him a couple of times
before, and over there we becamelike brothers.
There's no separating us.
We're now 24-7 together.
But Itay left.

(35:14):
Itay was released and the firstthree days I stayed over the
ground and I felt like I'm goingcrazy.
I was alone in an apartment.
They locked me inside theapartment.
I remember there was this bigwindow with a curtain, yeah, and

(35:39):
the thing I wanted to do themost is to scream and I couldn't
.
I couldn't remember me standingin front of this, this window,
that it's.
It's shaded, yeah, and there'sthis little bit of a beam of
light that's coming through theand I'm feeling it.

(36:02):
I'm feeling it on my face andI'm sure I want to scream, but I
can't.
So I'm feeling it on my faceand I want to scream, but I
can't.
So I'm opening my mouth likeI'm screaming and I can't do it.
And after this, those three days, the terrorist comes to me and
he tells me Omer, you're aboutto leave.

(36:22):
And then I thought maybe I'mgoing home.
And I tell him am I going home?
And he tells me you're goingdown and we get to this,
abandoned, and we start walkingfor maybe an hour and we get to

(36:50):
a small, small cell, the cell.
I couldn't stand in it.
If I wanted to stand, I had tocrouch, and if I wanted to
spread my arms, this is what Icould have done, this is the
most I could have done.
And they throw me inside andthey closed the door and I sit
there in pitch black.

(37:12):
You know it's something that isso hard to imagine.
You know darkness.
If you go in a room and closethe lights and you move your
hand in front of your face,you'll see shadows moving.
I didn't have those shadows.
There were times that I thoughtI'm blind.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
You didn't know what day, night, nothing.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
Nothing, nothing.
And you know it's this feelingof not knowing time and that you
don't know what's happening.
You try to imagine stuff.
I became amazing, myimagination is crazy, but you

(38:02):
feel hopeless.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
You were there for 50 days.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, I was there for 50 days In darkness, yeah, and
was there for 50 days Indarkness.
Yeah, and the craziest thingfor me is, you know, at that
time I was in darkness and Ididn't have a lot of food.
I could see my bones on myshoulder and my rib cage and I
didn't shower for 80 days now.
But the thing is, I was at myworst point there, but my faith

(38:29):
in Hashem just grew stronger andstronger every day.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Because that's probably when all of the hostage
forum stuff was the screamingand the yelling of all of that
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, I really do believe it, that they sent me
this, that you guys sent me thisenergy, the prayers.
I really did feel them, youknow.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
It's an amazing energy that they had.
Everybody that wears a pin andwears a dog tag do you know what
it does when you're having aconversation with somebody?
We're talking about shtuyot.
Hey, the gardener's not goingto come until Wednesday and he's
not going to this and I'm goingto bring.
They don't have that flavor ofice cream, yeah, but then they
don't have that flavor of icecream.
But someone's in a tunnel,someone's in a tunnel.

(39:12):
It just that energy is, Ibelieve, is what fueled you in
there.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
Yeah, what you also said at one point some of the
terrorists asked you what youthought you were worth yeah,
yeah, that that was in my in inour first two days or three days
of me and Itai together.
Okay, and I'm like because Iremember we didn't know that
there are 250 hostages.

(39:39):
We thought it's only the threeof us, my Itai and me.
Really.
Yeah, we didn't know, and meReally, yeah, we didn't know.
And they speak about that.
There will be a deal very soon.
And I remembered Gilad Shalit,a former hostage, was released
for, I think, 1,027 Palestinians, right.

(40:02):
And I go up to one of theterrorists and I ask him how
much do I worth?
How many Palestinians, how manyprisoners?
And he tells me 50, maybe 50,something like this.
And I go up to him and I tellhim oh so, baba, a week or two

(40:23):
we're out, that's okay,everything is okay.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
And, as you know, I was there for 505 days but when
you talked about that darknessin that room, I can't even
imagine it.
And you know, they always saypeople are in a dark place,
you're in a dark stage of ourlives, and all that.
And then, of course, I go backto the thoughts from the
Lubavitcher Rabbi, who alwayssays that if you take a candle

(40:49):
on Shabbat these little candlesthey take away so much darkness.
What would you have given tohave seen one Shabbat candle
just lit in that?
Wow, those of you who don'tlight Shabbat candles, this box
is 72 candles and it's about $12, $14.

(41:10):
On the Upper East Side it'sabout $26.
But just these little 72candles that are in here.
Light them.
Light them and think about thehostages that are there now.
Think about whoever you need tosend light and give it to.
It's such an easy thing.
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
It's so easy.
It is, it is, it is and it willsend so much light to them.
You know, yeah, you know, thelast week for me there, all
throughout the time I did notsee my parents at all.
And in the last week for methere, I've seen a video of my

(41:52):
mom.
She's talking about how shewants the women, the Jewish
women, to do something for thenext Shabbat so I could come
home faster, and she asks forthem to light a candle or to
keep the Shabbat.
And you know, it really didsomething Because, like, a few

(42:14):
days later, they get a call thatthey will bring six hostages
the next Shabbat and I was oneof them.
You know, they could easily,easily, easily the next phase,
they could destroy it 100%.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
There's an energy in the world and things shift and
change.
Exactly Right before you werereleased, in my life, I was
blessed with having a secondfather, an adoptive father, a
rabbi, a rab rabbi and a friendall in one.
A Holocaust survivor was barmitzvahed in Bergen-Belsen and

(42:53):
he died moments before theybegan to say that the hostages
are being released.
It went in stages.
They said hostages are going tobe released.
Then we were waiting for theirnames.
Then we, you, came out and allof that.
But it was a shift when he leftthis world and then when you

(43:14):
came out.
So let me get.
Can I get the picture of him uphere one second?
That's him, rabbi Yoichel Gross, rabbi Gross, that's me.
And we were at the grave of hisgreat-grandfather and we were
there with his great-grandchild.

(43:35):
In case you need to understandwhat Am Yisrael Chaim means.
We were there.
I took him between thesynagogue and to the grave.
I was holding him up.
He was 94.
But when you're holding him,you begin to understand he's
holding you up.
Yeah, wow, just in case youknow.

(43:55):
And he when he passed away youcan go back to the screen when
we passed away, we had the Shiva.
This was right before you weregetting out, and during the
Shiva, people talk about whathappened with him.
The stories come up and theywere saying that when the doors

(44:16):
to the camps opened, he wasstanding there with his pajamas,
with lice, and that's all hehad.
That's all he had.
He had no idea where his familywas.
He had no idea he didn't have acountry.
He didn't have a country thatsays you're a citizen of our
country.
He didn't have an army.
He didn't have anything.

(44:39):
So when you were released, I waswatching that video this is
after we had all theconversations about him and I
see Omer Shant, merchant of,coming out and there's an army
to pick you up.
This time the IDF came to pickyou up.
You had a country to go to, youbelong.
You had a to that zealot.
You had a dark on.

(45:00):
You had a passport.
You have something that saysyour name on it and the country
you belong to.
You knew where your family was.
You knew there were twoambulances behind you.
There was Magenta, vida Domeand United, hatzalah, hatzalah,
united.
Whatever the check clearseither way, that picked you up.

(45:20):
And so after every show I singHatikvah.
And when I saw the video of yougetting out and having a
country to go to, an army thatpicks you up, ambulance services
, family.
I began to sing Hatikvah alittle bit different, the line
where it says Odlo avdatikvatenu, which means we

(45:46):
haven't lost our hope.
So I change it to into aquestion Od lo avdat tikvatenu,
hasn't our tikvah?
Instead of hope, saying worked,hasn't our tikvah worked?
We have all of this, it's inplace.
We have a country, we have acountry, we have an army, we
have a nation.

(46:07):
We have a country, we have anarmy, we have a nation, we have
a Torah which makes us theJewish people, and we have a
Knesset.
We have a Knesset and it's notthe building that's in Jerusalem
, it's the hostage forum.
It's the hostage forum.
Applause, applause, applause.
Knesset Israel, it's thehostage forum.

(46:30):
Thank you, knesset Israel isnot from the Torah, it's from
the Midrash.
Knesset Israel, the assembly,the assembly.
When I went to the hostageforum and saw people standing
there and screaming on thehighway, on the Ayalon, tens of
thousands of people screamingfor justice, for bring back, for

(46:51):
Moshiach, energy.
That's Knesset Israel, that'sthe assembly, that's the United
Jewish Appeal to God.
Put those two letters in there.
You're supporting the forum,you're supporting the to God 're
supporting the to God.
You're not making a donation.
You're a member of the assemblyKnesset Israel, you're a member

(47:14):
of this assembly, and that'sand that's we have.
That it's in place.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Amen, amen, amen to this.
It's in place.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
Amazing, that was good, huh yeah it was.
That was better than huh yeahit was.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
That was better than I thought it was going to come.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
You gave me chills.
Look, I also got chills from it.
No, Knesset Yisrael is us.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
No, you know it's.
You're right, because I see myparents, I see the families and
they want us to be united.
That's what they want.
They don't separate.
And this is who we are.
We're supposed to be unitedbecause we're the strongest when

(47:57):
we're together.
We're the strongest there's nodoubt about it.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
If the Jews got along , if everybody was a member of
Knesset Israel, there would beno war in Ukraine, there'd be no
war anywhere in the world.
If we just the consciousness ofKnesset Israel, of putting it
together, just the harmony andthe Mashiach energy.
One goal the goal is to live ina Messianic era.

(48:23):
Everything else to get there.
So that's what the?
It's not that building inJerusalem where everybody's
grabbing for different energies,it's the energy of unity, which
is what your mother is.
I mean your mother.
I'm looking at her.
I mean I mean, and your father,father, of course.

(48:46):
But you know there's a song, aYiddish Mamed.
You know that song or no?
A Yiddish Mamed.
There's a line in there inWasser und Feuer, in water and
fire, through water and fire,she'll go looking for her child.
Nicht halten ihr teuer, das istgewesen der größte to not hold

(49:09):
her child is the biggest sinthat a Jewish mother could have.
What you did, the way youscreamed and the way you went,
you changed my prayers.
When I'm the chazan in thesynagogue, there's a section
that says horrible.
I love Ashkenazi prayer.

(49:39):
That's the worst song we have.
Do you understand the wordsthat are being said there?
Because of watching you screamin the Knesset.
Do you understand the wordsthat are being said there?
Because of watching you screamin the Knesset, I change it.
I said Mechalkel Chaim Bechesed, mechayim, Meitim, berachmim,
rabim, so Mechnoflim, ve'rofEcholim, u'matir, u'matir.

(50:03):
And then I scream in thesynagogue my rabbi's here, I
just stand there and scream.
You scream, scream for what wewant.
Except, I do have a gift foryou, for people I love I give

(50:30):
them a framed mezuzah.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
Because you know it's good to have in the house a
framed mezuzah, especially me,because my mezuzot are all in
plastic, so when my friends comeover it goes.
Why is there a joint on yourdoor so?
so and goes why is there a jointon your door?
So I buy these mezuzot and Ihave them framed, and Shelly

(50:56):
Malki and the entire Shemtovfamily, yo, your brothers and
sisters are they dying that youblew up like this?
Are they like what Is he?
Formula One Prayerful wishesfor much success and Moshiach
energy in everything you do.
Put that here too.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
How are we doing?
I didn't know it was mybirthday today.
It's crazy.
Every day is your birthday.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Every day is your birthday.
I hit everything I wanted tosay.
You went to visit the president.
Yeah, I did.
How was that?
Every other thing?
I've seen you talk.
You're giving stories of all ofyour.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Yeah, it's a bit unusual.
For me it's a bit different.
Normally I speak, you know it'sa bit sad, it's okay.
The only thing I really like totalk about is the end.
You know, because it's a goodend, yes.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
So you want me to tell the story of what, of the
ending for me of being incaptivity?
Yeah, you.
So the end of the story startsat the last three days.
At the last three days, at thelast three days, I get to see,

(52:31):
for the first time after 500days, two other Israelis.
Sorry, three other Israelis.
I get to see Eliyahu Cohen,omer Venkert and Tal Shoram.
I get out of the tunnel and theterrorists they grab me by my
arms and I walk in Gaza at night.

(52:53):
I hear people going by me andI'm so scared and we get to a
vehicle and they put me inside.
I'm blindfolded and they tellme to crouch.
So I sit down and I crouch andI don't speak.
I understand that there are twoterrorists sitting in the front

(53:18):
of the vehicle and thensuddenly I hear one of the
terrorists went Elia water.
And I'm thinking to myself myname is Omar, I'm not Elia.
And then I hear from next to meyes, please.

(53:38):
And it's the first time Iunderstand there's next to me.
And in that moment my heart waspounding.
And we get to this house and weget inside and they lock us
inside a room and we're stillblindfolded.
And then we started talking toeach other, but we were

(54:02):
whispering, so we talked aboutyou know everything, what's your
name and where have you beenand what's your experience.
And then suddenly we hear thedoor opens and we don't speak
anymore.
And then I hear two more voices,new voices, and it was Tal and

(54:25):
Domo van Kelt, and we're sittinginside this room.
They locked us again inside theroom and we're all blindfolded
and we're whispering to oneanother.
Yeah, what's the story?
And I'm trying to imagine tomyself how they look like.
Yeah, and after we were maybeeight hours, we were blindfolded
.
They took us to a tunnel andinside the tunnel they took off

(54:50):
our blindfolds.
And first I looked at Elia, andElia looks kind of okay to me,
looks kind of healthy to me.
And then I looked at Tal andOmer and the first thing that
comes to my mind is theHolocaust survivors, the

(55:11):
pictures we all know.
They were so, so thin.
Omer, I think, he lost 15,excuse me, 79 pounds, and Tal
was almost the same as Omar.
And you know, the last monthfrom there, since the ceasefire

(55:32):
began, they started to give memore food.
They gave me a lot of food.
I came out, I got to Israel, Iwas 36 pounds less, but the last
month I gained, I don't know,maybe 25 more pounds.
And so I'm sitting there andthe terrorists they come up and

(55:56):
they give us sandwiches and Icouldn't eat.
I just gave it to them becauseI saw them and I was in shock.
I couldn't speak, I didn't knowwhat to do.
And I see them dividing thefood.
Like me and the Thai, we usedto do like I was doing at the

(56:17):
first tunnel.
I was dividing the only biscuitI had in a day.
I was dividing throughout theday and I was so, so shocked.
And after a day they moved Talto another area and Omer and
Leah and I, we stayed togetherand in that period of time we

(56:39):
talked about everything.
All the 505 days that I wantedto speak with someone, I just
took it all out and in some sortof way we had some fun.
And on the last day of our, weget this uniform and we put on

(57:04):
the uniform and they put onblindfolds and we start walking
out of the tunnel and as we getto the exit of the tunnel we
stop there and then we wait fora bit and I hear Elia saying
she'll, am I lot?
Yeah, he's like you know, veryquietly he says it and then he
stops and then I start singingit, but loudly, and it's the

(57:29):
three of us standing at the exitof the tunnel and singing loud
and proud.
And then we get out of thereand we get inside the vehicle
and we drive around Gaza forhours and I'm thinking to myself
it's not going to happenanymore, and I did not sleep for
24 hours now and I couldn'tsleep at night and I fall asleep

(57:52):
and after a few hours, I think,I start to hear that I hear the
door open and I start to hearAllah is the Greatest, allah is
the Greatest.
I hear the door open and Istart to hear Allahu Akbar,
allahu Akbar.
And I see so many people andthey take me out of the vehicle

(58:13):
and I remember, first, omar isgoing up the stage and I was
after Omar and they gave me thisHamas diploma.
Yeah, and I'm getting up on thestage and I'm holding this
diploma.
Yeah, and I'm getting up on thestage and I'm holding this
diploma, this graduation diploma, very proud.
And I was in such a high, I wassmiling, yeah, and something

(58:41):
crazy, yeah, that no one knows.
Yeah, on the other side of thecameras that were filming us I
guess Hamas tells the citizensthe names or something On the
other side, I see hundreds ofGazans, of Palestinians, and

(59:01):
they scream oh, omer, and I'mstanding there and I don't know
what to do.
And suddenly comes this van andit stops right in front of the
stage and the van doors theyopen and I look inside the van.

(59:25):
I didn't understand and I seetwo people there.
I didn't understand.
And I see two people there andthey were so thin and I see them
grabbing their heads and crying.
And I understand these are twoother hostages.
They were Eviatar and Guy andthe Hamas terrorists.

(59:49):
They made them watch us leavewhile they stay there and the
door closes and they drive awayand after a few minutes we we
get down from the stage and wego inside the Red Cross vehicle
and we start driving towards theIDF safe zone.
And as we get closer I start tosee tanks and the doors of the

(01:00:18):
tanks they're open and I seeheads of soldiers popping out
and they're waving at us and Isee some other vehicles popping
out and they're waving at us andI see some other vehicles.
And then we get to the IDF safezone and I remember the door
opens and I'm looking outside,I'm looking at the sky and I'm

(01:00:41):
looking at the soldiers aroundme and I'm shocked and in front
of me standing this officer, hername is Daria and Daria
welcomes me and she tells meOmer, you're home, everything is
okay.
Now you can relax your mom anddad, you'll see them soon,

(01:01:04):
they're waiting for you.
And I look at her and I tellher Can I please hug you?
After those 505 days that all Ineeded was a hug, was a bit of
love.
I got it at this moment and shegave me this amazing hug.

(01:01:30):
We hugged and after a fewminutes I let go.
And then we go inside a vehicleand this is not part of my
story, but this is a part ofElia's story.
I remember we're going insidethe vehicle and Elias is sitting
in the back.
Elias, when he was kidnapped,he was inside a shelter inside a

(01:01:55):
Megunit and inside the Megunitthey throw grenades and he was
with his girlfriend and theysurvived by.
He thought he survived byholding the bodies, you know,
above him and the terroriststook only him.
And when he got on the truck hesaw one of the terrorists going

(01:02:18):
inside the meagre neat andshooting all over the place,
while his girlfriend is inside,his fiance sorry, his fiance is
inside.
And I see Elia sitting in theback of the van and his officer
that he got.
He tells him listen, elia Ziv,her fiancee.

(01:02:41):
She's okay, she's alive andshe's waiting for you, and I'm
thinking about it right now.
I want to cry.
I've seen his, the relief onhis face you know, it's okay,

(01:03:06):
it's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
You have a hug and love from everybody here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
And I only know him for a few days, but I felt so
connected to him.
And we drive off to Israel andwhile we're, all of us were
crying inside the van and we getto Reim base it's next to the

(01:03:42):
Gaza Strip and there I get aroom.
I'm sorry, I see my dad crying,I can't.
And we get there and they giveme this room and I take a shower
and I see my clothes after avery long time and after I

(01:04:07):
finish I see Daria and she tellsme Omer, are you ready to meet
your parents?
And I'm telling her of courseI'm ready.
What do you mean?
And she takes me to this livingroom and I sit on a couch and
I'm sitting like this on theedge of the couch and there's

(01:04:29):
this little crack on the door.
The door was open for a bit andI'm waiting and I'm looking at
this crack and every person thatgoes by I'm ready to jump on
him.
And after a few people thatwent by, the door opens and, as

(01:04:50):
you've seen in the video, myparents go in and we run up to
each other and we hug and thefirst thing that I'm saying to
them are you guys okay?
And my mom she's like are weokay, are you okay?

(01:05:14):
And it was pure, pure happiness, pure happiness.
You know, I've never felt thismuch joy in my life.
And we stayed there for maybe 20minutes or so and then they

(01:05:34):
tell us okay, you have to go tothe hospital now.
And they take us in ahelicopter.
And while we're inside thehelicopter, one of the soldiers
gave me this whiteboard to writesomething on it so I could show
the media, so people would know, and I write everything is fine

(01:05:56):
now, and I'm doing this smileyface like my tattoo, and I show
it to the camera and then ittakes it away.
And then I tell him wait,listen, give it to me one more
time.
And I write PS, I want a burger.
And we get to the hospital andover there that they're waiting

(01:06:17):
thousands of burgers, thousands,okay, from all over Israel.
And we gave it out to the, tothe.
I had my first burger in a verylong time.
Yeah, I want to hear you clap.
And also there I met my brotherand my sister.

(01:06:44):
It was okay, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:49):
It's amazing.
You're out of there and nowthere's a future.
Don't forget the first thingyou are the representative of
what happened.
You are the child of theformers of the hostage forum.
You are their child.
That is such a schut.
You have the ability to giveblessings to everybody.

(01:07:13):
Baruch Hashem, and give thoseblessings.
Give those blessings to everygo to bed at night, thinking
every one of those hostages.
Tomorrow your phone's going toturn around and they're being
released, and you also Amen amen, amen, amen Every night, when
you close your phone, put itdown.
You say tomorrow I'm going topick this up and the first thing

(01:07:34):
I see is that there's a release, a ceasefire, whatever they
call it.
And you also want to be anactor?
Yeah, I'm going to rephrase itYou're going to be an actor.
Yeah, you're going to be in it.
Exactly, I'm going to tell youone thing being a hostage for
505 days in the tunnel, I canalmost guarantee you you're

(01:07:58):
never going to have to auditionFor nothing.
No casting beans.
Who do we think for the role ofthe brother, omer Shemtov?
Bring him in for an audition,audition.
He's going to audition for you.
505 days he was in a tunnel.
He's going to audition for you.
Just call his name.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
I just spoke about it , I don't remember who.
Today my friends are using itso much.
You know you should be ashamedof yourself.
What he was a hostage, yeahyeah, everything, everything
yeah.
I have a friend who is like thebig.
I'm a big Maccabi fan, yeah,yeah, and he's like the biggest

(01:08:40):
Maccabi fan Right, right yeah.
And he wanted to get tickets toa game.
Oh yeah.
And he tells them.
He tells the guy um, I need afew tickets.
And he's like, listen, it'shard to get.
And he's like he tells him,listen, it's for Omer Shemtov.
And the guy, the guy tells himOmer Shemtov.

(01:09:02):
And he tells him yes.
And he tells him listen, I haveto check, I don't know.
And he was really stressed.
And he tells him listen, I haveto check, I don't know.
And he was really stressed andhe tells him aren't you ashamed?

Speaker 3 (01:09:11):
Yeah.
For 505 days, you anti-Semitebastard, you Get him a table,
get him whatever he wants.
Ay, ay, ay.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
And he gives me his tickets, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
No, you've been busy with the formulas and
schmormulas.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
Yeah yeah, enjoy every minute of it, enjoy every
minute of it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
May every family that has a hostage see that this is
what's going to be with theiramen.
I'm going to round this up.
You were at the president'soffice and you thanked him and
you know, when I was going tothe tour in the in the Poland
Museum and you saw all thedifferent world leaders and what

(01:09:54):
they were doing with the Jewsand what was happening, one
thing that came to mind to mewas that there's a world leader
today, whatever the opinions areand whatever it is, but there
is a world leader, not apresident of a country, he's not
the president of France, he'snot the president of Canada.

(01:10:15):
He's a world leader whounderstands that Jews are not
something you throw to the sideor put into a ghetto, or that
they're a part of the equation,of the success, whatever success
you're looking for, I'm justsaying, but it's a world leader
who has grandchildren who aregoing to be walking on the

(01:10:36):
college campuses of Columbia andHarvard or all of those other
places, which is, yeah, it'swhat it is.
It's what it is I don't knowwhat your views are, but that's
currently happening in the worldthat there is a world leader
that has a respect for Jews andthe never again we're going to

(01:11:03):
end with that, the never again.
Never again is an expressionthat we have in America.
I don't think it's in Israel.
No, not really.
It's like a nervous tick.
Americans have Never again,never again, never again is an
expression that we have inAmerica.
I don't think it's in Israel.
No, not really.
It's like a nervous tick.
Americans have Never again,never again, never again, never
again.
And then it happens the nextday.
It happens again, exactly Neveragain, never again.
Boom, october 7th.

(01:11:23):
It happened again.
Yeah, when I told Rabbi Gross,when we were telling him what
happened on October 7th, he knewthat was going to happen.
He knew that that happensTomorrow.
There's going to be someswastika on a synagogue.
The never again that is in theworld now is that you don't get
to destroy Jews and get awaywith it.

(01:11:46):
Exactly destroy Jews and getaway with it.
Exactly 1300.
1300 Jews were destroyed andthey lost everything they have.
When you were driving aroundGaza, did you see the
destruction?
Yeah, I did Everything.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
Was that worth it for them?

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
Everything.
So that's the never again.
College campuses here.
There's students on thesecollege campuses that are being
tortured.
They can't get to class and nowthe people that organized the
terror on those campuses, thepeople that organized, lost
their visas, lost theirscholarships.

(01:12:25):
That's the never again.
When you were in the beginningof your hostage situation, there
was a win in Harvard, mit andUPenn, harvard.
You know that I almost went toHarvard.
I went, I had a conversationwith them after what they said
to me.
Even back then I knew I wasn'tgoing to go there.

(01:12:45):
They said we don't want you,but that's besides the point.
But they had one day.
They had the presidents of allof these colleges, of Harvard,
mit and UPenn.
These are the top schools.
They had three women.
Who, not one of them has a gayfriend, not one Suspicious.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
No, I would be suspicious.
Yeah, I would be suspicious.
Yeah, I would be.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
They sat there in front of the Senate and the
Congress and whoever wasinterviewing them, no one had a
little makeup on, no one had alittle contour and they couldn't
say that it's not, that it'snot okay to bully and to
mistreat Jewish kids.
They couldn't say it, theycouldn't get the words out and

(01:13:32):
they lost their jobs.
That's the never again.
So that gives you hope.
That gives you hope that we, asa nation of Jews, as a nation
of Jews, that's the never again.
That's the never again.
I'm sure you have restaurantsyou're going to after this.

(01:13:54):
You haven't stopped, youhaven't stopped and we thank you
.
Every school you've gone to,every event you've been to,
showing your face, givingeverybody hope.
Thank you so much.
There is an event tonight.
Thank you so much.
There is an event tonight.
The United Jewish Appeal to Godis having a pride event

(01:14:22):
downstairs and I'm so honored tobe gay.
I'm so honored to be a part ofit and we're going there.
And is there anything else youwant to tell everybody?
Is there anything?

Speaker 1 (01:14:32):
Yeah, I'll finish off in a serious note.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
One second.
Okay, underneath your chairsthere are very, very nice QR
code cards.
Am I saying that right?
Yeah, a card with the UnitedJewish Appeal to God, and you
can take a moment and not now,because it takes a lot of time.

(01:14:58):
It's an effort to scan thatthing without Leo next to me.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
I thought you were going to say you get a car, you
get a car, you get a car and car.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
You get to make a donation and become a member of
the assembly.
You get to make a donationwhatever it takes.
I'm going to end also bythanking my husband.
Amazing, all of this, all ofthis, all of this could not
happen.
There is a Not Jewish.
He's not Jewish, he's an ally.

(01:15:32):
Leo has done more for theJewish community than many Jews
Tour dates and functions andfundraisers and everything.
And he does it from a place oflove and a place of
understanding that when you helpothers, it comes back to you.
Amazing, we love you, leo.

Speaker 1 (01:15:54):
We love you.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
There he is, leo, take a step out for a second.
Come here.
Step out, boina.
I feel like Vanna White.
Take a step out for a second,come here.
Step out.
Boyna, I feel like Vanna White.
Leo, this is my neshama, mybaby, and you'll give us the

(01:16:22):
last thought and then we'regoing to sing her tikvah
together.
I've just sung it in Warsaw, inMunich.
I'm singing it now with ahostage and with the people who
created the forum and the UnitedJewish Appeal to God people.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
So go ahead.
For me, I'll just say that,first of all, thank you.
Thank you for being here, thankyou for supporting.
We got 58 more hostages thereToday.

(01:17:03):
It's 600 days.
600 days today.
Yeah, today, 600 days, 600 daystoday.
Yeah, today, 600 days.
And we cannot forget.
They're going through hell.
Yeah there they are.
I want you to look at thosepictures and remind yourself

(01:17:24):
that these are not just pictures, these are not just posters.
These are humans, these areJews, these are no matter what.
I want you to choose onepicture, choose one picture.
Learn about that person, learnabout this hostage, really get

(01:17:50):
to know him, you know, see whathe likes, what he doesn't like,
everything, everything,everything.
And I assure you that wheneveryou pray for him, it will bring
him this big light, it willbring him energy.
So, please, don't stop praying.
Do whatever you can, speak withevery you you know, just spread

(01:18:15):
the word around and do anythingyou can to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
Absolutely Light, a Shabbat candle.

Speaker 1 (01:18:22):
Exactly.
Put them in your head, exactly,exactly.
And I have to say one morething we were going to sing the
Tigva.
Yeah, you know, every time,ever since I got back, the Tigva
for me got a lot new, like anew meaning, absolutely A new
meaning.

(01:18:42):
You know, because there is aTigva, there is, like you've
said now.

Speaker 3 (01:18:49):
Oh look, yeah, we're sitting together.
All I just Like you've said now, oh look, we're sitting
together.

Speaker 1 (01:18:51):
All I just did was ask for it Exactly so my tikvah
is to see the whole home Amen.
And who knows, maybe we coulddo a special episode.
You know me and you and all theother hostages.

Speaker 3 (01:19:07):
Speaking of special episodes.
When you end the podcast, you'dlet them know where they can
reach you, so what's the bestway if anybody wants to reach
out to you?
That's, that's how you end thepodcast.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:19:28):
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, okay.
No no, no, I have an Instagram,if anyone wants.
I'm not here to promote myselfor anything.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
What the hell is a podcast for.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
I'm here to promote Liat Korin.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
That's it.
Liat, the Hostage Forum and theUnited Jewish Appeal, exactly,
exactly.
I have two mortgages to pay, soI'm going to be.
Wow, you have a list there andlet me tell you this list.
This list is a list I wouldgive to Rabbi Gross.

(01:20:07):
Wow, I would always tell, andyou know that I called him
before every show.
Or he called me before everyshow.
He would say Hatzlacha G'dayla,hatzlacha G'dayla, you're my
new survivor, you're my new.
I'm not going to call youbefore every show.
You can call me whenever youwant, but I'm letting you know
we are on tour.
Let your friends know that thereis time to laugh.

(01:20:27):
Pause for laughter.
Be the friend that brings theirfriends to the comedy show.
Get some tickets to a comedyshow.
Get your friends.
Whoever brought you heretonight, shkoyach, good for you.
Shkoyach, yeah, shkoyach, makefun, things happen.
I'm not gonna go through allthe dates, but we have some
dates in your hoop.
It's like Indianapolis,columbus, omaha, Nebraska,

(01:20:49):
kansas City.
Then we're going back to Europefor Vienna, Amsterdam, berlin
and Paris.
Then we're going to be inIsrael, in Jerusalem, november
27, and Tel Aviv November 29.
You are invited to open all ofthose shows.
Thank you, thank you, thank youIf you're around.

Speaker 1 (01:21:08):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:21:10):
All of you sitting here, all of those shows.
Thank you, thank you, thank youIf you're around.
Thank you so much.
All of you sitting here, all ofyou sitting here, my New York
audience April 23,.
We are all going to be at RadioCity Music Hall.
Get your tickets.
They're going to be availablesoon, but put that in your book.
April 23, 2026.

(01:21:30):
Yeah, that's it sing.
Shall we please rise?
We're going to sing theHatikvah together.
I can't thank you enough.

Speaker 4 (01:21:43):
Shabbat Shalom, zion, sophia, oh, don't let our hope,
the hope of the years of the40's To be free in our land.

Speaker 3 (01:22:49):
Thank you all very, very much for coming.
Am Yisrael Chai V'kayam.