Former Hamas hostage to share her story with Vail Chabad on Thursday
Jewish Israeli Moran Stella Yanai spent 54 days in captivity after being captured by Hamas at Nova music festival
AP Photo
Chabad of Vail is hosting an Israeli former hostage of Hamas on Thursday night who will share her experience of captivity and freedom.
“A lot of people just simply don’t know. They’re not really sure what’s happening, what’s going on,” said Dovid Mintz, rabbi of Chabad of Vail. “People have to know this, what it means to have faith, what it means to have hope, what it means to have endurance.”
Moran Stella Yanai, of Beer Sheva, Israel, a southern town 25 miles from Gaza, attended the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 to sell jewelry. When Hamas agents attacked the festival, killing over 350 people, Yanai was one of 40 people taken hostage.
Yanai was held captive in Gaza for 54 days, during which she said she endured physical and psychological torture. After being returned to Israel during a temporary truce on Nov. 29, Yanai has made a point of sharing her story to raise awareness for those who are still in captivity.
“There are not many (hostages) that have been released or rescued, and even the ones that have been are not really going around,” Mintz said. “They’re not comfortable yet sharing their story. It’s still too painful.”
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Mintz said speaking in public is very emotional for Yanai.
“But she feels it’s very important to get the story out, that people hear, people listen,” Mintz said. “And you never know who can be inspired, who can be in the attendance to make change.
“However painful it is, she goes around to uplift communities,” Mintz added. “The fact that she has the strength and the resilience to go on, what message does it tell each and every one of us? How we should continue to go on and to live and to love and to share and to be there for one another and to uplift one another.”
Mintz said he hopes people will be inspired, through Yanai’s words, to provide aid to efforts to free current hostages and support those who have been freed.
“In this community, if we can learn from her and be inspired by her, you never know what effect that can have on the other hostages,” Mintz said.
In January, Chabad of Vail brought family members of two hostages to speak about their drive to bring their captive sons, brothers and nephews home. In June, one of the two hostages, Almog Meir-Jan, was rescued by the Israeli Defense Forces.
“The joy in Vail — so many people knew the mom, and the uncle — that was here, pleading for her child’s release,” Mintz said. “The return home was amazing because we met the mom.”
Mintz said he reached out to Yanai’s team when she was touring the United States taking on speaking engagements last spring, but she was unable to make it to Vail.
“She said, ‘I promise, if I do this again, I will come back and visit you in Vail,'” Mintz said.
When Yanai decided to return to the United States this fall, she kept her promise. On a whirlwind, sub-two-week tour, Yanai will visit Denver, Las Vegas and New Jersey among other places in addition to Vail.
Though the event is organized by Chabad of Vail, “this is for everybody,” Mintz said. “It’s not designated for anybody specific, and everybody should learn, and come here and grow to be more tolerable and joyful about our surroundings. She’s a true hero, come be inspired.”
The event will be held in the conference room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vail. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door. All the money collected through the event will go to Yanai to support her rehabilitation and therapy.
Sign up at JewishVail.com/Hostage.
