A 'piyut' for former Gaza hostage Agam Berger
Agam Berger was handed a small whiteboard and a marker on the afternoon of Jan. 30, 2025, in the back of an Israeli Air Force helicopter carrying her from Gaza to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah. Hamas terrorists had held her hostage for 482 days. Her parents sat beside her.She wrote six words in Hebrew, which roughly translate as “I chose the path of faith, and by the path of faith I returned.” Beneath them, she thanked the people of Israel and the soldiers who brought her out, adding that there is no one like them in the world.The photograph reached Israeli phones within the hour.Some 50 miles to the east, in Ma’ale Adumim, Rabbi Zev Shandalov read the six words and wrote a piyut, a form of prayer-poetry that rabbis have composed since antiquity.Berger had written on a surface designed to be wiped clean. Her words survived because a…
Rabbi Zev Shandalov, a teacher from Ma’ale Adumim, has transformed six words written by former Gaza hostage Agam Berger into a piyut, an ancient form of Hebrew prayer-poetry. Berger penned the phrase, "I chose the path of faith, and by the path of faith I returned," on a whiteboard while being transported from Gaza after 482 days in Hamas captivity. Shandalov, inspired by her concise expression of faith, crafted a piyut that incorporates biblical verses and uses Berger's original sentence as a recurring refrain. The poem, now inscribed on parchment, is displayed in Berger's mother's home. Shandalov explained that a piyut "can be a song, it can be a prayer, it can be sung or it can be read," and often stitches in Scripture. He noted that Berger's words, written by a 20-year-old, articulated emotions that many take a lifetime to express, emphasizing the universal message of faith.
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