The worst of times brings out the best of our people.
The past years have been filled with torrents of heartbreak and trauma for the Jewish people, especially those in Israel. Yet, amidst the horrors, millions of lights shone in the hearts of our people as everyone stepped forward to do whatever they could to help.
The symphony of heroes that arose on October 7th, and in the months since, is enough to sing about endlessly. It’s precisely the wide variety of those who stepped forward that makes it so beautiful.
This list is a small sampling of those heroes and a glimpse into why our nation prevails.
Noam Bonfeld
Noam is a young IDF reservist in the special forces. On the morning of October 7th, he was with his new wife, visiting her family in Jerusalem. Immediately after hearing about the terrorist infiltration, Noam grabbed his small handgun and sped home to check on his kibbutz in the Gaza Envelope, Kibbutz Saad. Once he saw that his community was secured, he called his friend in the neighboring kibbutz—Kfar Aza.
Despite warnings that he would be heavily outnumbered by the hundreds of terrorists, Noam sped over to defend the kibbutz. On the way, he met four other IDF reservists and police officers and formed an improvised fighting squad, becoming the first soldiers to enter Kfar Aza.
With a limited supply of bullets, Noam fought off dozens—perhaps into the hundreds—of terrorists, and saved countless lives.
Noam fought until his last bullet, all while whispering Psalm 120 repeatedly. When reinforcements arrived, they supplied him with a uniform and new ammunition, and he led further battles until the early hours of October 8th.
In the aftermath, Noam established a unique special operations unit and has been leading them in battle in Gaza since.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin
Rachel has been dubbed by many as “Mama Rachel” for her likeness to the Jewish matriarch, standing with strength while beseeching G‑d under horrific circumstances. On October 7th, after a heroic face-off, Rachel’s only son, Hersh, was taken hostage from the Nova Festival, by Hamas terrorists. In a video shared around the world, Hersh was seen with his arm blown off by a grenade, being taken and beaten by the terrorists.
For 330 days, Rachel prayed and campaigned relentlessly for her son and the other hostages’ freedom, never giving up hope. Tragically, Hersh was murdered by the terrorists just hours before IDF troops neared the tunnel where he was being held together with five other hostages. Rachel’s faith did not shatter, and in a heart-rending speech at her son’s funeral, she said, “Finally, my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, finally, you’re free.”
Tova Heller
Tova, a mother of a large family—including two adorable toddlers, is known for her upbeat nature, and popular tours of the Machane Yehuda Shuk in Jerusalem. She is also the wife of an IDF combat officer and rabbi in the reserves. Her husband, Rabbi Betzalel Heller, reported to his unit on October 7th, and minus a few short breaks, has been away from home fighting in the north and in Gaza for the 11 months since.
Being a “reservist wife,” means constantly worrying about her husband’s safety, while taking care of her children and household on her own, and still working to keep her business running through the tourism decline. Despite the immense challenges, Tova remains optimistic and focuses her energy on her children and on caring for the other reservist wives from her husband’s unit.
Rami Davidian
Rami is a 58-year-old farmer in Moshav Patish, just outside the Gaza Envelope area. He wasn’t in an IDF combat unit and had no fighting training, but in the early hours of October 7th, when his friend called and asked him to save a friend’s son, Rami jumped into his car and headed straight into the line of fire at the Nova Festival.
On the way, Rami saw hundreds of youths fleeing and learned that something horrible was going on. Upon locating the boy he was looking for, Rami filled up his car with 15 people and drove them back to his home.
Soon, his phone filled with messages from festival-goers who sent him their locations and begged him to rescue them. Rami enlisted the help of his son-in-law and spent the next 48 hours driving back and forth between the battlegrounds and his community, where his neighbors opened their doors to the stranded and traumatized youths.
With his calm demeanor and intimate knowledge of all the backroads in the area, Rami saved over 750 people from the thousands of armed Hamas terrorists.
Menachem Kalmanson
Menachem Kalmenson lives in Otniel, more than 100 kilometers away from Kibbutz Be’eri. But that didn’t stop him from jumping into his brother Elchanan’s car, along with his nephew Itiel, in the early morning hours of October 7th, to rescue civilians under fire.
The trio went door-to-door, fighting off terrorists and bringing the trapped kibbutz residents out to safety. Each time they exited the kibbutz, they had to make the deliberate decision to return and again risk their lives to save people they had never met.
Often, they’d arrive at a home where the family was hiding in the bomb shelter, holding the door handle down in fear of terrorists. Menachem had to convince them that it was safe to come out—and the only thing that would work was to recite the Shema prayer.
The trio continued until the morning of October 8th, when they entered a home to rescue a family and were ambushed by a terrorist who hid behind a door. Elchanan was sadly killed, and Menachem was injured. The three saved over 100 lives that day.
Youssef Ziadna
Youssef is a Muslim Bedouin minibus driver from the town of Rahat—one of many Muslims who became heroes in the face of terrorism. It started at 1:00 a.m., at the start of October 7th, when he drove Amit Hadar—one of his regular clients—along with 8 of his friends, to the Nova Festival. His plan was to pick them up later that afternoon, at 3:00 p.m.
At 6:30 a.m., Youssef received a frantic call from Amit, asking for help. Youssef assumed it was because of the rockets being launched from Gaza and quickly drove his van towards the festival. He soon found himself dodging bullets from all directions but continued on anyway. Youssef located Amit, and filled his 14-seater with 26 people, before driving off-road to safety in Kibbutz Tze’elim.
Ariel Bilya
Ariel was spending Simchat Torah at his mother’s home in Ofakim, with his wife and two children and extended family. When the sirens began on the morning of October 7th, the family of 11 huddled in their bomb shelter until they heard gunshots nearing their home—and then terrorists breaking in.
Ariel grabbed a metal rod and ran to the front door to fend off the terrorists, while the rest of the family climbed out of the bomb shelter window one-by-one, onto their neighbor’s roof, and hid in a small enclosure. The family was later rescued from the roof and found that Ariel had been killed by the terrorists, just after he had held them back long enough to save the entire family.
Yossi Landau
Nobody knows how Yossi made it alive, driving from his home in Ashdod to Sderot early on October 7th when the roads were teeming with terrorists. But as the head of operations for the Southern Command of ZAKA, he knew he had to be there. ZAKA is a volunteer organization known for arriving at every terror attack to ensure honorable care for the dead. Nearly all volunteers are also trained EMTs, including Yossi.
Upon arrival in Sderot, Yossi and his volunteers immediately set up an emergency field hospital and began treating victims while also fighting off terrorists. Once the situation was under control by the volunteers in Sderot, Yossi moved on to the Re’im festival, and then Kibbutz Be’eri and Kfar Aza.
In the first week alone, ZAKA volunteers under Yossi’s command processed more than 670 bodies of those brutally murdered by terrorists. Despite the deeply traumatic scenes he witnessed, Yossi continued to help locate and identify bodies of missing people in the months following, so that families could have closure and bury their loved ones with dignity and respect.
Rebbetzin Chani Klein
Eilat, the small tourist city on Israel’s southernmost coast where Rabbi Mendy and Chani Klein are Chabad emissaries, was not under attack on October 7th. Instead, the remote city became a refuge for over 60,000 Israelis who were displaced from their homes in the Gaza Envelope and Northern border communities. The city’s population doubled overnight.
When Chani met with survivors of the attack who were being housed at local hotels, she quickly realized that there was a lot of work to do to help them feel comfortable and begin their recovery. What started as bringing baby supplies to new mothers soon developed into opening daycares and preschools for the children, getting washing machines donated and installed in the hotels, and organizing volunteers to run a wide variety of therapeutic programs.
Long after volunteer fatigue kicked in for most people, Chani continued working day and night to do everything she could for the displaced residents, so that their stay could be a drop less traumatic and more filled with love.
Alice Duke
Alice grew up in the Gederot region, a forty-minute drive from Gaza. She’s a fashion designer as well as an engineer with bridge and tunnel expertise. In the aftermath of October 7th, many civilian volunteer groups popped up to help the victims and displaced Israelis, as well as the IDF soldiers serving in Gaza and the north.
Alice quickly joined the leadership of Chamal Gederot, a volunteer group that, in addition to donating essential tactical gear to troops, focused on engineering quick solutions for various problems that soldiers encountered in Gaza. Alice’s expertise in tunnels was put straight to use.
Since then, Alice has barely slept a wink and her phone hasn’t stopped buzzing for a moment. With a team of volunteers at her side, she has invented, fundraised for, and delivered millions of dollars worth of essential equipment which has been used to save countless IDF lives, improve combat capabilities, and assist in hostage rescue missions.
Almost every terror tunnel found in Gaza has been searched with the help of equipment from Alice and her team at Chamal Gederot.
Rabbi Dani Cohen
Rabbi Cohen and his wife Batsheva have directed Chabad of Hebron for over two decades, where they primarily serve the hundreds of soldiers stationed in the city, inviting them for Shabbat meals and giving them encouragement as they patrol the streets. On October 7th, Rabbi Cohen took out his own uniform and began patrolling the streets of Hebron himself as an IDF reservist.
Together with the other Chabad rabbis of Hebron—Rabbi Mordechai Hellinger, Rabbi Yoni Attiah, and Rabbi Itzik Naimark—who also reported for reserve duty, he has continued directing Chabad activities while simultaneously keeping the locals safe in uniform. Cohen’s Chabad center quickly adapted to the increased number of soldiers and reservists, and has been supplying meals, tactical gear, and emotional and spiritual support to troops and their families.
Chagai Lober
Chagai is an actor, playwright, and founder of the Aspaklaria theater and acting school in Jerusalem. On December 26th, Chagai’s son, Sergeant (res.) Yonatan Lober, 24, fell in battle in Gaza. Yonatan left behind a wife and baby, and another baby on the way who never met his father.
In his deep heartbreak over the loss of his son, Chagai began to campaign for unity and dialogue between the people of Israel, stating that the only way forward is together. In the midst of controversy and struggles over the length of the war, Chagai continues to organize rallies with other bereaved families, raising billboards reminding the country of the sacrifices made and the unity needed to preserve what they fought for.
Anonymous Special Forces Commander
This anonymous commander is one of many who are unable to show their faces or reveal their identities. Since the start of the war, he has been leading his troops into urban warfare in some of the most difficult terrains imaginable. For days on end, in the Middle East heat, the commander and his troops wear heavy vests, gear, masks, and helmets, and live off cans of tuna, as they dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
The commander has buried several friends since the start of the war and saved countless other lives. But no one other than his own soldiers will ever know the extent of his, and their own, bravery, done selflessly to defend the people of Israel.
May Hashem continue to bless you in your efforts and bring all the hostages home. Baruch Hashem.