Or Levy was shocked to hear of Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s fate upon release, says his brother

Michael Levy, the brother of recently released hostage Or Levy, says his brother met with the parents of Aner Shapira, the fellow Nova partygoer who battled Hamas terrorists at the roadside shelter near the desert rave, where Or and his wife Eynav also attempted to hide with others on October 7.

Shapira was killed after he had thrown back seven grenades at the terrorists. His best friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, had his left arm blown off from below his elbow and was then taken hostage along with Or Levy, Eliya Cohen, and Alon Ohel. Goldberg-Polin was murdered in captivity. Cohen was released yesterday and Ohel is still held captive in Gaza.

“Aner’s parents heard about the last moments of their son’s life, they heard it from Or’s perspective,” says Michael Levy, adding that his brother also met with Alon’s parents, as Or was held with Ohel, Cohen, and Eli Sharabi, who was also recently freed.

Levy was briefly kept captive with Goldberg-Polin at the beginning of their captivity, until Goldberg-Polin was taken for medical care. They met again for a day or two sometime in November, says Levy, and Or Levy was sure that Goldberg-Polin had since been freed.

Learning about Hersh’s fate was a shock to Or when he was released home two weeks ago.

He also suspected throughout his 15 months of captivity that his wife Eynav had been killed in the roadside bomb shelter, but it was only when he was handed over to the IDF that he asked and was officially informed that she had been murdered that day.

“He has two main things he thinks about,” says Michael Levy. “To continue the struggle for the friends he left behind, and to return to some kind of normal life, somehow, to live in his own apartment, to work and to be a dad to Mogi,” Levy’s 3-year-old son.

Levy says it was very difficult to witness his brother’s skeletal condition when he was released. Or Levy has said that their Hamas captors began giving them more food two weeks before they were released, so that they would not look quite as gaunt.

They “were kept in conditions that animals wouldn’t be kept in,” says Levy.

Or Levy has a long rehabilitation ahead of him, says Michael Levy, “but there’s nothing like running after a 3-year-old to keep you in shape.”

The Levy family is taking small steps toward normalcy, says Michael Levy, including finally eating Shabbat dinner together, something they did not do during the entire 15 months that Or was a hostage.

“It’s just small, meaningful things,” says Levy. “There’s all these things I wanted to ask him and talk to him about. And now I can finally call him, and ask him stupid questions, like about basketball. I can finally do that. Or people used to ask me questions for him. Now I say, ‘I have to check with Or, I’m not going to decide for him.”

Seeing the hostages released home is amazing, says Michael Levy, as they switch from two-dimensional posters to real, breathing people.

“We’re still in the struggle to bring them all home,” he says. “We’re just holding different pictures now.”