‘I was in the hands of God’: Oct. 7 hostage shares her story at Vernon Hills Hanukkah celebration
When the terrorists came for her and her teenage daughter Natalie at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, Judith Raanan, said she had two goals — protect her daughter and remain faithful to her Judaism.
The Evanston resident, who was held by Hamas for 14 days, told her story at a Hanukkah celebration Monday at the Chabad Jewish Center of Vernon Hills.
“I was in the hands of God and my daughter, too, and I prayed in Hebrew in front of my orthodox Muslim captors very quietly and nicely,” she said. “I never lost for one second the connection with ha-Shem.”
Following a celebration with food, song and holiday prayers, the guests were held in complete silence as she took them on a journey from her arrival in Israel to her eventual release.
She laced her story with humor, at one point saying of the Jews, “We Jews are like the mob. Once you're in, you're always in. We are one family.”
She said she traveled to Israel to celebrate her mother’s birthday, promising Natalie a vacation she wouldn’t forget.
She remembered the blast of a rocket-propelled grenade. She had two minutes to prepare her daughter for what was coming as the voices grew louder.
She recalled how she played for time with one of her captors, asking for a hairpin and using the sound of her voice to warn neighbors not to come out.
She shared how she and Natalie were led on foot and at gunpoint into Gaza. The handcuffs cut off her circulation and drew blood. Meanwhile, she put her arm on a terrorist, to prevent him from doing anything rash. Along the way, she passed bodies on the road.
At the hospital in Gaza, she was asked to undress. When she requested a bra, a nurse told her with a smile, “I’m sorry, I only have one.”
Through the remainder of her captivity, she remained faithful to her Judaism, insisting on eating kosher and washing before eating bread.
To lift her daughter's spirits, she sang Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”
“We wanted someone to come speak about staying strong in their Judaism in the face of a tremendous challenge,” the Chabad’s rabbi, Shimmy Susskind, said, noting that Hanukkah's historical parallels made the choice especially meaningful.
One of the people attending, Vernon Hills resident Josh Ackerman, felt Raanan brought a perspective that people, especially children, need to hear.
“Kids should hear this and understand it. We're not trying to terrorize kids, but they have to understand what terror is,” he said.