Or Levy would have every reason to feel broken. Released from Hamas captivity on Feb. 8 after 491 days in mostly underground tunnels, Levy was returned to Israel and learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed by terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.
Instead, Levy smiles.
“I want to smile as much as I can every day to have fun, not to think about a lot about the future,” said Levy, who made his remarks during a 65-minute discussion at Chabad South Metro Denver.
Or, Einav and their young son Almog happened to arrive at the Nova Music Festival on Oct 7, 2023, at the exact time the festival opened its programming that day. Or got out of his car and thought he was hearing the sounds of fireworks.
They were the sounds of gunfire.
Levy was quickly captured in a bomb shelter.
“They grabbed me and threw me in the back of a pickup truck,” remembers Levy. “The last picture I remember is seeing the terrorists shooting inside the shelter.
“At any moment, you weren’t sure if you were going to live or die.”
Levy was in a cell with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was killed by Hamas while in prison, and whose body was recovered a couple of days later by the IDF from a tunnel on Aug. 31, 2024.
Prior to Goldberg-Polin’s fate, he and Levy became friends.
“They (Hamas captors) went to pray five times a day,” said Levy, “so we knew there would be times we could talk.”
What did they talk about?
“Food,” said Levy, who was given one pita a day by his Hamas captors.
“When I was in captivity,” Levy said, “I dreamed of opening the refrigerator and getting a Reese’s bar.”
Que the audience laughter.
Levy, a computer programmer from Tel Aviv, described Feb. 8 as “The best day, and the worst day, of my life. When I came back to Israel I asked my mother where Einav and other members of my family were. All she said was, ‘they were murdered.’”
Levy’s saving grace was knowing his son, now three years old, was still alive.
“I had really bad stuff happen to me,” says Levy. “They killed my wife and I’m freed from them. Now I’m free to do whatever I want. I want to be present to my son and to think about what I would do with a smile.”
Long freed by now, Levy said: “The most difficult part of this is psychologically. It haunts me that I’m here with you, and there are still too many in captivity.
“I had really bad things happen to me. But I try to smile as much as I can, every day.”
That statement concluded Levy’s appearance at Chabad. By then many of the more than 400 people in the packed multipurpose room were in tears. Levy welcomed a lengthy receiving line, and those still in tears, especially, asked permission for a hug. Levy obliged them all.
It was then that Levy, reunited with his son Almog, was simply asked, “In the wake of everything you’ve been through, how do you keep smiling?”
Levy replied with this, which aired on last week’s IJN Cast:
“People who know me from before I was captured know that I smile all the time.
“This is the way I prove to myself and everyone that I’m still me.
“And no matter what they would do, they can’t really stop me from smiling.
“This is my victory.”
