It’s late on a Saturday night and I’m unable to sleep. As we approach the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – in which 1,200 were murdered and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza – and as we look forward to the return to Israel of the remaining 48 hostages in the coming days, I’m reflecting on what has helped me get through the last two years. I’m lucky that I wasn’t injured or taken hostage, nor were any of my family members or friends. However, everything that has happened on since that dark day has undoubtedly had an effect not only on the average Israeli citizen, but Jews all over the world.
I remember being in synagogue that day, in the early morning of Simchat Torah (the “Rejoicing of the Torah”) holiday when someone ran into the synagogue shouting out, “Azaka! Azaka!” which translates to, “Siren! Siren!” I thought he was shouting out “Hakafah”, which means, “Circling,” which is what we call it when, after taking the Torah scrolls out from the Holy Ark on this day, we dance with them around the synagogue in celebration. Of course, no one celebrated that day. We spent time in the safe room in the synagogue, went home and spent the day closely with our families wondering what was happening, only to find out the magnitude of what occurred after turning on our phones at the conclusion of the Simchat Torah holiday.
On a personal level, first and foremost, I’m lucky to have my young daughters in my life. I don’t know what sort of long-lasting effect this war will have on them, but it is heartbreaking knowing that they have had to endure countless sirens from rocket attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and Yemen. I almost had tears in my eyes when I told my eldest daughter (just 7-years-old) about the ceasefire and that hopefully now there won’t be a need for any more sirens. While one of my main jobs in life is that of a father, making sure that their needs are taken care of, I cannot measure how they have unknowingly made life so much better by virtue of just being there. What other reason would I have to celebrate Jewish festivals and other milestones over the past two years – while others who are less fortunate than me have had to suffer while their loved ones are injured or killed in the war – if not to make sure that they smile, laugh and enjoy life like every child around the world should?
I’m also thankful for the good people that I have around me, both at my office and outside of the professional scene. Some of those people who deserve a mention are my close friends at the Sports Rabbi – Josh Halickman (the Rebbe himself), his wife Sharona, their boys Dov, Moshe and Yehuda. Recent academic studies have found that sports fandom can benefit those who have suffered trauma (for example, see Orr Levental and Dalit Lev Arey’s pilot study on PTSD and sports fandom from November 2022). We’re not through the trauma in this country, but I’ve thought a lot about how sport has helped me over the last two years. Without the Sports Rabbi team, I would not have had that overall support network, which also includes the Sports Rabbi’s good friend, Roy Jankelowitz.
As I reflect, there are many moments which I think of from the last two years as a sports fan in Israel. When it comes down to it, there are three which stick out to me, all of which come from Bloomfield. They are stories of survival, of mourning and of hope.
Survival: Emily Damari and Romi Gonen
The 2024-25 Winner League soccer playoffs kicked off on March 15 this year with eventual champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv, defeating Hapoel Haifa 3-0 at Bloomfield Stadium. Prior to the game, former hostages, Maccabi fan Emily Damari and Hapoel Haifa fan Romi Gonen, took the field for an emotional pre-game ceremony after their January 19 release.
Both Gonen and Damari expressed their appreciation to the crowd and the clubs for their support.
“I want to say thank you very much to both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Haifa and to all the fans,” Gonen said to the 20,000-strong crowd. “Thank you for fighting for us, we need to fight for all the other hostages who are in Gaza. Yalla, Hapoel!”
“My dear brothers and sisters in the stands, my dear Maccabi family,” Damari, whose jersey was on the sidelines next to the players’ bench at Bloomfield for the whole time she was in captivity, where the jerseys of other Maccabi fans who are still in captivity remain, said. “I could not find the words to express the deep gratitude that I feel in my heart. When I was in my darkest days in captivity, you were my light. In the rare days on which I had a radio, I heard that we had won the championship [referring to Maccabi winning the 2023-24 league title], I screamed even when it was forbidden to scream!”
I get chills thinking of this ceremony, of Damari chanting for Maccabi with the home crowd prior to kick-off and then celebrating with Gate 11 after the win.
Maccabi clearly continues to have a huge place in Damari’s heart. On Thursday when the signing of the deal to end the war and bring the hostages home, Damari posted a video to social media of her celebrating with the Berman family, their twins and Damari’s close friends Gali and Zivi remain in captivity and are set to be released this week. What song were they singing passionately on the clip? MeHayom SheBo Noladeti, which translates to “From the day I was born,” one of the more famous songs sung by Maccabi fans at games:
From the day I was born
I knew
My life belongs to you
They say I’ve gone crazy
But Maccabi
I just want to be with you
Because of you all week long
I can’t stay calm
Warming up my throat
And when you take the field
The longing
Will turn into madness
Ohhh ahhh, yalla yalla ya Maccabi
Ohhh ahhh, the whole city will know I came
Me, I’m crazy about you
Yalla, all [Gate] 11 is behind you
אמילי דמארי חוגגת אצל משפחת ברמן את ההסכם של טראמפ כאילו מכבי ניצחה בדרבי* זה הדבר הכי מרגש שראיתי בחיים
*מה גם שזה אשכרה קרה pic.twitter.com/Sph8T3tMrU
— Amit Slonim (@Slonim) October 9, 2025
Mourning: Eti Raz, Mother of Idan Raz z”l
For every inspiring story of survival from the likes of Damari’s and Gonen’s, there are countless others of loss. I felt privileged to attend Hapoel Tel Aviv’s ceremony for Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Actions of Terrorism) at Bloomfield Stadium in 2024. Both the football and the basketball clubs have been active in commemorating those who have lost their lives and those who continue to suffer since October 7, from flying those affected to games in Europe to displaying names of those who have fallen since October 7 on digital screens throughout Tel Aviv, together with a QR code to learn more about their lives. The ceremony at Bloomfield was another opportunity to support the Red fans in the communal setting, where the Hapoel teams’ players and administration together with 250 members of the families of Hapoel fans affected by the war, held a memorial.
“Since 7/10, the Hapoel Tel Aviv community has stood out in the activity of commemorating the murdered, the fallen and their families,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Club President, Avi Zaidenberg said at the ceremony. “One of the activities that touched my heart in particular was the graffiti throughout the city, which were personally dedicated to each fan we lost.
“This year, we decided that, in addition to the club’s regular Memorial Day events, we should commemorate and remember the fallen and the murdered in a different way, through a unique memorial display on digital screens throughout the city. Scanning the screens will allow those exposed to navigate to the memorial locations and the graffiti that community members created after the 7/10. We will remember them all. We will love them all.”
Messages of support came from both management and from the players. The captains of each of the men’s and women’s football clubs, as well as the men’s basketball club, spoke to the crowd.
“It feels as if come here and we are supporting you and I hope that when you get home you will understand how much you give us strength,” men’s football captain Dan Einbinder said. “We all have different professional goals, but at the end of the day we have one common goal, which is to take this picture of the families sitting here and to make you happy.”
“We are focused on sport and we hear absurd things before an important game such as, ‘a fight for our lives,’” women’s football captain Oshrat Eni said. “We understand that everything that we do has great significance. We are representing important and dear people, some of them are unfortunately no longer here with us. This has tremendous meaning.”
“Since the war, I see many faces that I have had the chance to meet,” men’s basketball captain Bar Timor said. “Families who have lost the ones dearest to them. You do not understand how much you strengthen us. We came to support you and to give you strength, but at each meeting we together strengthened ourselves. After each meeting we ourselves left stronger. We are doing it for you. We will do everything for you. We are always with you.”
But the most emotional moment on the night for me was when Eti Raz, the mother of Idan Raz z”l, a soldier in the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade died in battle on October 7, spoke to the crowd, speaking of her son’s funeral – known as the ‘Red Funeral’ because of the thousands of Hapoel fans who wore red – and her son’s passion for Hapoel.
“My Idan was in the 13th Battalion and he made sure that his breaks from the army were timed so that he could go to Hapoel games,” Raz said. “He would trade his shifts so that he could watch games live. He would take days off from his service to go to the Derby. Idan was a boy whose whole heart was red. “When he was young, he created a network of fans to organize rides from the north and the south. He spent most of his military salary on Hapoel scarves, shirts and flags. Even in the battle where he fell, where all of his equipment was burned, only one red Hapoel Tel Aviv shirt was undamaged.
“After the Red Funeral that we held for him, where thousands of people wore red and sang at the ceremony, ‘You will never walk alone.’ We understood that we have a family. The Hapoel family, which has embraced us ever since that day. We immediately began to understand the significance of the color red. It seems that you can choose your family. This choice of the Hapoel Family was first made by Idan. The second time, the Hapoel Family chose us, to keep us in the Red Club.”
I have a playlist of songs connected to the war that I often listen to. One of the songs is one titled Leolam Lo Titzad Levad, which translates to, “You will never walk alone,” which was written about Idan by Ifat Bar Sela, Ben Awad and Maya Hubani. This song was played at the ceremony after Eti Raz finished speaking:
A boy whose eyes whisper an innocent gaze
That one day filled with the tears of warriors
From a playground frozen still in the kibbutz
And how you chose so quickly then to run
A twenty-year-old boy dreaming to be a star
Lighting up with joy everyone he loved
Maybe up above he chose to rise and wake
Wanting us to rise tomorrow, to another dream
All the friends surrounding you
Sing and pray here in your honor
Maybe from the heavens you’ll cry out to the earth
That we shall never again know
A child of war
A boy who just now dreamed and laughed
And who could have thought it would end before the game was done
And until the end, you stayed whole and smiling
After all, you promised everyone you wouldn’t go
A boy charging ahead, leading the team
A ball kicked into the net on the fan side
And how it was that the warm and threatening color
Now remained—the color red upon the shirt
A boy with a past and so much future too
There must have been things you still wanted to say
And another era [translation from the Hebrew, “Idan”] has ended, one that will never return
You rose above to play in the Stadium of Light
You’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone… ever…
All the friends surrounding you
Sing and pray here in your honor
Maybe from the heavens you’ll cry out to the earth:
That we shall never again know
Hope: Danny Miran, father of hostage Omri Miran
Just last week, I was lucky to be at Bloomfield Stadium for the 1-1 draw between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa. Prior to the game there was a ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the October 7 attack, with the English date falling later that week.
The emotional ceremony felt different to others that have been held over the last two years – not only because of the lights being turned off throughout the stadium, but also because there was a feeling of hope that we were on the cusp of a deal to end the war and bring the remaining hostages home.
As has been the practice at Bloomfield, empty chairs were placed on the field for the hostages who still remain in Gaza and who are Maccabi fans, namely Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Omri Miran, Tamir Adar z”l [of blessed memory] and Yossi Sharabi z”l [of blessed memory].
Danny Miran, father of Omri Miran, spoke emotional words to the crowd of 25,101:
Dear crowd, I am Danny Miran, the father of Omri Miranwho has been held captive by Hamas for 730 days — 730 days of pain, of uncertainty, of endless waiting. As I tell myself every day: I don’t hang my hopes — I simply wait, day after day.
Tonight, we mark two years since October 7th and the outbreak of the Iron Swords War — two years of pain and infinite longing, but also of stubborn hope that will never be extinguished. The five beams of light crossing the skies above Bloomfield Stadium are a call from all of us for the return of every hostage — Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Omri Miran, Tamir Adar z”l and Yossi Sharabi z”l.
We salute the soldiers of the IDF who are fighting on the front lines, embrace the wounded and honor the memory of the fallen. From here, at Bloomfield, we pledge not to forget, not to give up, not to rest — and to keep raising our voices until every man and woman returns home.
Tonight, with one heart and one voice — yellows and greens alike — we are united in the hope of seeing them all home now. Together we are strong — Am Yisrael Chai [the Nation of Israel lives]!
How poignant that a father was given the platform prior to a huge sports game between two powerhouses of Israeli soccer – known as the Israeli Classico – to share his pain and his hope.
With a deal signed and the word being that hostages will start returning on Monday morning, I am anxiously waiting for their return and to see how the sports world will both support the hostages and celebrate their return. The obvious date marked on the calendar is the soccer derby between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv, set to take place at Bloomfield on October 19.
Given what they have had to suffer through over the past 737 days, it’s unlikely that we will see Gali Berman, Ziv Berman or Omri Miran at the game. But I cannot wait to hear the roar of the crowd at the ceremony marking their return and I cannot wait to finally see the images of them embracing their families (and of course, of Emily Damari embracing Gali and Zivi Berman). And I am thankful that we as a nation have sport as a way to help us through the post-trauma of this horrifying war which we have endured for the past two years.
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