By Elizabeth Breyer Johnson
On the evening of October 29, a profound stillness enveloped the sanctuary of Chabad of Charlotte as the community convened for a poignant program titled Kidnapped: An Evening with Moran Stela Yanai. Hosted by Rabbi Yossi Groner, this gathering offered an intimate glimpse into the harrowing experience of an Israeli woman who endured 54 days in the clutches of Hamas following the tragic events of October 7.
To grasp the emotional weight of the evening, I spoke with my colleague Noah Goldman, Israel and Global Jewry associate at Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte( JFGC), who attended the event. Noah described a palpable silence that filled the room as a brief video played, capturing the heart-wrenching reunion of Moran with her parents post-release.“ Her mother was gently brushing dirt and dust from her sweatsuit,” he recalled.“ That image said everything— the pain, the relief, the sheer humanity of it all.”
Moran, a talented jewelry designer with a penchant for travel, had not intended to attend the Nova music festival that morning as it coincided with a Jewish holiday. However, recognizing it would be good for her business, she decided to join her friends. Just after 6 a. m., tranquility of music, dance and carefree young people was shattered by the sound of rockets.
Despite warnings from others who took shelter beneath the stage, Moran chose to flee. In hindsight, she learned those who remained there were met with tragedy. Moran’ s journey to survival was fraught with peril. Twice, she narrowly escaped capture— once by speaking Arabic fluently and again by donning a necklace inscribed with her name in the same language. However, when a Hamas terrorist violently ripped the necklace from her neck, her fate was sealed. In a harrowing encounter with a third terrorist, she was forcibly taken across the border into Gaza.
Upon her arrival, brutality escalated; her jewelry was savagely removed, leaving her fingers bloodied and permanently scarred. As she languished in captivity, she discovered both of her legs were broken. A fellow hostage named Itay Svirsky, a kind-hearted man who would later be murdered in captivity, aided her in standing and walking. The sustenance provided was meager— mere fragments of dry pita bread, half a cucumber, and a few sips of water each day.
With haunting clarity, she recounted the agony of hunger and the torment inflicted upon her by her captors, who mockingly dubbed her“ Zara Queen” due to her fashionable attire. They accused her of espionage, convinced that a woman in her 40s without children must have ulterior motives. They often held a gun to her head. And in a particularly cruel twist, they forced her to negotiate stairs in stiletto heels, despite her injuries.
Noah expressed what resonated most profoundly was Moran’ s remarkable self-awareness and resilience throughout her ordeal and in her retelling of it.“ In the face of horror, her strength endured,” he observed.“ She didn’ t see herself as a hero; rather, she considered herself lucky. That humility filled her narrative with even greater power.”
Throughout the evening, Moran spoke with calm honesty about the fear and uncertainty that enveloped her, as well as the quiet faith that sustained her through nearly two months of anguish. She articulated how thoughts of her family and her own steadfast will gave her the strength to survive. For many attendees, the evening served as a poignant reminder— even amid unimaginable suffering, the Jewish narrative is one of unwavering faith, unity, and resilience.
As the program ended, Adam Kolett, CEO of JFGC, delivered
The Charlotte Jewish News- December 2025- Page 7
Bearing Witness: Moran Yanai Shares Her Story of Survival and Faith remarks that echoed the collective sentiment of the evening.“ Moran, your courage— to relive what most people could never survive— is a gift to all of us,” he stated.“ You remind us that emunah— faith— is not merely a concept; it’ s the quiet choice to bring light into the darkness.”
In reflecting on the evening, Noah spoke to a lingering message not of despair but of endurance.“ It was painful and moving,” he noted,
JFGC Staff and Moran Yanai
“ but it was also a reminder of how courage and faith can survive even the worst moments.”
As we absorb Moran’ s story, we are compelled to recognize the resilience of the human spirit, a beacon of hope that shines even in the most desolate of circumstances.
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