Julie Kupershtein, the mother of Bar Kupershtein who was recently freed from Hamas captivity, shared on IDF Radio (Galei Tzahal) that her son told her: “I knew I’d come home alive. I felt it, and I never lost hope for a moment.”
“They went through terrible abuse and torture, truly,” she said. “They were starved in horrific ways — not even animals are treated like that. He tells me the stories and I sit across from him crying, realizing my son is strong, a hero, and there’s no one like him in the world. He told me: ‘Mom, they beat me, but I didn’t feel it — my body was frozen.’ He said it was all in the mind, as if he trained his brain not to think about the pain at all — and he survived.”
2 View gallery
Bar Kupershtein travels to the hospital after his release from Gaza
(Photo: Hannah McKay/Reuters )
Describing the bond between Bar and the other hostages held with him — Segev Kalfon, Maksim Harkin, Elkana Bohbot, and Yosef Chaim Ohana — she said: “After they were kidnapped, we families formed a deep connection, and became a new family while they were still in captivity. We went together on prayer journeys, spent Shabbat and holidays together, we truly became united — one family. When they returned and saw us this close-knit, it was a gift to them, because during captivity they had imagined how they’d reunite us.”
Julie explained that most of the captors were stationed about 300 meters from Bar and his fellow hostages. Between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., a flashlight would blink — and Ohad Ben Ami ( who was freed in February) would get up to bring food. When food didn’t arrive during that window, Bar knew there would be no food that day. “He told me, ‘Mom, I got used to living with very little food.’ When there was none, the stomach hurt, and those were really hard moments,” she relates.
2 View gallery
Bar Kupershtein is received by the IDF from the Red Cross
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
"Besides that, there were beatings. Every time a terrorist was killed, or their relative’s house was demolished, or anything else happened — they would come and beat them brutally and abuse them. There were very difficult times. I prefer not to go into detail. He told me, ‘Mom, I just slept. I always slept. I didn’t let the background noise bother me. I just chose to sleep.’ And he did — he really slept for hours. That’s what kept him sane. Also, the fact that they were together made it easier for him than being alone with all the brainwashing.”
The surprising request
Julie added that despite it all, “Bar helped people. He has golden hands. He fixed the electricity, dug the waste pit, built them a water channel, made a small area in the tunnel where they could sit alone when things were hard.”
“He was often in life-threatening situations,” she said. “Once, he told us they had to move through several houses, and something went wrong in the last one. The building was blown up — and he was supposed to be there. He was saved by a miracle. He really wasn’t supposed to be here. He took upon himself a mitzvah of charity, and told himself that he had 200 shekels in his wallet at home, and when he got out of captivity he would donate it — and that would save him.”
She said Ohad Ben Ami is expected to meet soon with the hostages he was held with in the tunnel. In captivity, the hostages often spoke about what they would eat once they returned. “They fantasized about Kariot (a chocolate-filled cereal) with milk,” she said — and that was Bar’s first request upon returning.
Bar Kupershtein is reunited with his parents
Julie revealed that the family had to hide the fact that her son was a combat soldier in the Nahal Brigade — and that Bar himself succeeded in concealing this from his captors, claiming instead to be a medic in an ambulance. “He told us it didn’t really matter to them whether you were a soldier or not — they treated everyone horrifically. They’re all young, so they assume everyone was in the army anyway.”
Julie also shared that during captivity her son grew closer to religion, and upon his return, to her surprise, requested to wear tzitzit (a traditional Jewish garment with ritual fringes). “I was shocked,” she said. “He had faith, he was somewhat traditional — but not like this. There were Muslims there who prayed to the Creator as well, and they observed all the holidays and fasts, and he said if they’re doing it, then he also wants to be close to the Creator.”
She concluded: “A person in darkness, in the inferno — I think the first thing is to connect with the Creator, to try and save yourself somehow. He had a dialogue with God. He would say Shema Yisrael often, he prayed, and recited a chapter of Psalms he knew by heart.”