About two months after his release from captivity, Yosef Chaim Ohana returned yesterday (Sunday) to his home in Kiryat Malakhi, after completing his rehabilitation process at Kfar Maccabiah. Dozens of the city's residents welcomed him in a warm and emotional event.
During the reception, Ohana expressed his longing for the people and the place, and noted that it was clear to him that the first thing he would want to do in his mother's home was to cry. Channel 13's news team accompanied him on his return home and, immediately upon his return, he put on tefillin for the first time since coming back from captivity.
During the day, he spoke with his father about Simchat Torah, when he was abducted, and about taking the Four Species for the last time. He continued that mitzvah on the day of his return, during the recent Sukkot holiday.
When he accompanied his mother in the kitchen to prepare lunch, he shared memories from his time in captivity - particularly about the constant hunger and the daily struggle around the lack of food, "You feel the hunger in your bones, everything you do revolves around food." He asked for one dish in particular - his mother's couscous.
He also spoke about singing Shabbat songs together with his fellow captives, "We used to sing in captivity many of the Friday evening songs for welcoming the Sabbath - 'Lecha Dodi', 'Shalom Aleichem', inviting the angels of peace to guard us all week. Everyone would close their eyes and each person would imagine they were around the table. And I would imagine this house."