More than a century ago, Frederick Nietzsche famous announced that “God is dead.” But under the Gaza, the fetus, the pitch-dark tunnels-where the wind was rare, the food was still rare, and the future was almost absent-and Nietzsche co-existence.Hamas’s cruel to dozens of Israeli hostages taken during October 7, 2023, attack, existence meant more than physical endurance. Inside those underground cells, the belief returned with unexpected force – not only as holy verses from the bhajan book, through the secular knowledge of the despair related to the existence of the Nietse. What was united them was the same basic truth: the need for meaning, for some when everything – light, freedom, identity – was taken away.
Omar Shem Tow ‘S Psalm 20 And Nietzsche’s “Why”
Omar Shem Tove, 20, at the time of his kidnapping, a secular Israeli, waiting and planning an army trip to South America. At the Nova Music Festival, he was confiscated with friends, and quickly encouraged in the Gaza Tunnel Network – went underground in a plastic tub.Without reaching watches or sunlight, the day in captivity, the shem tow started praying. He clung to Bhajan 20 – “May God answer you on a day of crisis” – by one path, which was coming back home in Herzlia, by a chance, his son adopted the same poem which was as his mantra. For him, the trust did not suddenly emerge as revelation, but as a necessity – a reaction to isolation, uncertainty and fear. He started blessing his food, promised God, and if he had ever returned home, he vowed to donate Tafilin in prayer.But if God gave him a ritual, Neetzsche introduced something else: a reason to bear. A proverb among the hostages was drawn from the German philosopher, which was popularized by Holocaust Survivor Victor Frankle: “Why he can tolerate someone.” It was reportedly spoken by Hersh Goldberg-Poly, an Israel-American hostage, before he was executed by his prisoners. The phrase was revived through tunnels like the Holy Scripture. One hostage later made him a tattoo on his hand.
Redistribution of confidence in captivity
Shem Tove was not alone to find God in Gaza. Other hostages, such as Eli Sharabi – who survived for 491 days, only to find out that his wife and two daughters were killed – saying that Shama Yisrel prays every night and try to recite Kidush on water when alcohol is available.Ritual became resistance. For many people, Jewish observation was not imposed by identity politics or external pressure – it was individual, a lifeline in the most inhuman conditions was imaginable. A hostage described saving a bottle of grape-swollen drinks for Sabbath prayer. Others put their hands on their heads in exchange for the skull. For prisoners, it may look like the theater. For hostages, it was meaning.
Nietzsche underground
And yet, with God, Nietzsche tolerated. The familiar everything was taken away, the hostages turned to a philosopher, who had buried God in the pages of gay science, but also taught the generations that if someone had any reason, it could suffer. In the absence of Asha, he created the objective. In the absence of time, he performed rituals.Even the prisoners of Shem Tove inadvertently played a role. After an Israeli military unit passed over the ground, the gunmen handed over the shem towers that they had recovered – using the hidden code. In texts: Religious literature, and a printed card of Bhajan 20. No name, no signature. Just poetry. It mirmed the same card that was assigned to his mother months ago by a mortgage support group.
The fragility of life, tenacity of faith
At one point, Shem Tove spent 50 days in a dark, knee tunnel cell. He was given a biscuit in a day, faced a few drops of saltwater, and asthma attacks that became almost untreated. In frustration, he begged God to move him – somewhere else. Within a few minutes, his prisoners transferred him to a better chamber. Whether it is a miracle or coincidence, he saw it as divine intervention.From there, he survived through cool cooperation -to help in clear debris after the collapse of the tunnel, cooking, the tunnel. He maintained Sabbath. He saved a bottle of drink for a moment of blessings. He kept the faith alive in the space designed to crush faith.Now the house, he prays with Tafilin daily, as he promised. He has visited Jewish communities in America, not only about sorrow but also about flexibility. His mother too, now observes the Sabbath. Their religious conversion is not a story, but rather the noise of the society – ancient traditions and the existence of modern philosophy.
