A Family’s Story Began Before the Abduction
Writing in Jewish Action, Ungar described how Meirav Berger, mother of former hostage Agam Berger, began observing Shabbat after her own mother died, before October 7. Meirav said other relatives joined her after Agam was abducted. Prayers in her daughter’s room later expanded into gatherings with neighbors.
The chronology matters: Meirav’s first decision preceded the attack, while the abduction changed the family’s participation. A personal religious shift can develop through several stages rather than a single defining moment.
The accounts first appeared in Jewish Action’s fall 2025 issue and were republished in November 2026. They describe the women’s experiences up to the original reporting period. They offer a record of how those connections to Shabbat developed, without a new account of each family’s subsequent circumstances.
Smaller Steps and Practical Difficulties
In that feature, Nova survivor Shira Cohen of Ramat Gan described gradually adopting Shabbat observance after a Kesher Yehudi gathering. She also raised the social difficulty of observing it in a secular environment, where missing activities can bring loneliness.
Tehila Dvir of Safed described beginning with individual changes, such as avoiding driving or cooking on Shabbat, rather than immediately undertaking every practice. The accounts connect religious meaning with practical questions about daily life and companionship.
They describe choices made by particular people. They are not a representative sample, and attending a Shabbat gathering is not itself a measure of complete observance or a permanent change in religious identity.
What a Wider Survey Found
The Jewish People Policy Institute, JPPI, surveyed 1,257 respondents between October 30 and November 3, 2025. Collection by theMadad, Afkar and Migdam included Jewish and Arab respondents and an additional sample of Jewish adults aged 18 to 25 who were not Haredi. Results were weighted to represent Israel’s adult population.
Among Jewish respondents, 27% reported observing more traditions than before the war, 62% about the same and 8% less. Asked about specific practices, 11% said they lit Shabbat candles more frequently.
Increased observance was concentrated mainly among those already identifying as traditional or religious. Secular respondents showed a slight net decline in reported observance, which rules out treating the findings as evidence of a uniform secular move toward keeping Shabbat.
A Custom Is Not the Same as a Lasting Identity Change
JPPI cautioned that respondents were comparing their present situation with their recollection of the past. The survey did not directly observe behavior or prove sustained adoption of all Shabbat rules. Lighting candles more frequently is a narrower change than full observance.
The interviews and survey therefore answer complementary questions. Individual accounts explain how Shabbat can acquire a new place in someone’s life. Survey evidence helps assess how widespread reported change is and which groups describe it. Neither substitutes for the other.
The resulting picture has several strands: some families and survivors found a new religious framework, others intensified existing customs, and many reported stability. Whether those choices endure requires newer evidence and continued follow up, beyond the republication of an earlier feature.
