Rabbi Elchanan Danino, the father of Master sergeant Ori Danino, who was murdered by terrorists in Hamas captivity and whose body was returned to Israel in August 2024, spoke on Monday to Galei Tzahal, together with bereaved father Rafi Ben-Shitrit and revealed new details about the strong faith that kept his son going in captivity.
"There are a few other stories that we heard recently that are not known to the public, which Eliya Cohen who was released from Gaza, told us and they also shook us. For example, that Ori made sure not to touch any food that contained chicken or meat, even in the tunnels, and even though they offered it to him. He also said that after every quarter of a pita that they gave them to eat, he recited the Birkat Hamazon (blessing after eating bread) out loud so that all the other hostages would hear him. When I hear this, I understand, and add this to all the stories about Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, who did not have any connection to their faith for many years. Maybe their faith touched them on the inside, but they did not use it. And there, in the tunnels of darkness and death, when a person is stripped from all physicality, when he has no food, water, clothes, technology, connection to the outside world, that is where they discovered it. We have been decreed to have sons who fulfilled their mission in this world. My son's mission, apparently, was to save souls from the Jewish Nation," Danino said.
Danino also spoke about strengthening his own faith, and his family’s, despite the severe blow they suffered. "For us, it is divided into two cruel and difficult periods, which are completely different. From the period of Simchat Torah until the 28th of Menachem Av, when we buried Ori. This was a period of hope and prayer, along with a very difficult physical outlook. Because none of us knew, and we were terrified to death to hear the knock on our door. It is a fear that makes you pray every moment that you will receive a phone call that he is alive.
I thanked G-d that throughout all the years of my life I learnt faith. For the strength that I absorbed from my family, of simple people who feared God, who saw nothing beyond the fear of heaven. They were not people who pursued the pleasures of this world at all," he concludes.