Here for a Reason       

“Afew months ago, I sensed something terrible was going to happen to me,” Sapir Cohen said in her introduction to a video clip gone viral after her release from Hamas captivity. “I was sure it was some sort of illness, and they did find that I was carrying a virus. I was advised to say a perek of Tehillim daily for one month. The last day was October 7.”

On that fateful morning, Sapir was in Kibbutz Nir Oz to spend Simchas Torah with the family of Sasha Troufanov, the young man she was dating. The two had met six months earlier, and Sasha, kind, caring, and ambitious, was a person with whom Sapir could envision a rosy future. When he invited her to spend the chag with his parents and grandmother, Sapir was delighted. She enjoyed spending time on the pastoral grounds of the kibbutz and appreciated Sasha’s filial loyalty; once he’d scheduled a visit to spend time with his family on the kibbutz, he never, ever, reneged.

But shortly before they were to travel, Sasha seemed hesitant about the planned visit. “A day before we were meant to go, Sasha said, ‘Sapir, I don’t want to go to my parents for chag.’

I said to him, ‘Sasha, you never cancel on them, you’re always concerned they’ll be hurt if you don’t come. Why now?’