Former hostage Segev Kalfon described in an interview with the Mashav channel his struggle to preserve his spirit and Jewish identity under the harsh conditions of captivity, alongside his yearning for the family bakery and concern for his parents.
Kalfon linked Hanukkah - which he marked twice while in captivity - to his painful longing for his parents’ home. “Each time I went through Hanukkah there, I would tell them it was the hardest holiday for me. At the bakery it’s such a joyful time, with sufganiyot - it’s special. I would tell them how we made sufganiyot and everyone’s mouths watered. I always knew my parents needed my help there, and I asked myself, ‘How are they managing? Their son is kidnapped, and the bakery is on their shoulders too.’”
In the interview, he revealed how he managed to obtain a needle and thread from his captors by claiming he needed to repair a garment, and used them to sew kippahs for himself and the other hostages.
“I sewed kippahs from a galabiya they once gave us. I tore it apart and stitched kippahs, embroidering each person’s name. I made a hole in my clothing and told them I needed to fix it. For me, it was both an occupation and a way to preserve our identity.”
Wearing the kippahs was fraught with constant fear of the captors: “We would put on the kippahs, and when they came we would quickly remove them. Once, I was almost caught in the middle of Shalom Aleichem when I mistakenly approached them with the kippah still on my head. At the last moment, a friend whispered, ‘What are you doing?’ and I managed to hide it in my pocket.”
He described the first months as months of silence. “For four months I didn’t even know who I was eating with from the same plate. I never heard their voices.” He recalled a moment when he tried to whisper to another hostage and was brutally beaten by the terrorist guarding them.