Freed Hostage Ori Megadish in Birkenau during the 2025 March of the Living. (Elinor Lallouche Rotem)

“Hearing Holocaust survivor Sarah Weinstein say the words ‘I am a happy woman’ brought me to tears — tears of pain and hope.”

Reflection from Ori Megidish, who returned from captivity in Gaza and took part in the 2025 March of the Living.

I joined this year’s March of the Living knowing it would be a deeply meaningful journey — as part of a delegation that included October 7 survivors, led by the Menomadin Foundation. Every participant carried a wound in their heart from that day. Each day, we heard difficult stories from people who had lost their loved ones, yet came to this journey with incredible positivity and boundless love for our people.

Being in Poland and taking part in the March of the Living was, for me, a form of closure — to stand on the soil of Auschwitz with my head held high, feeling both the pain and the understanding of what six million Jews endured, while remembering my brothers and sisters who were also murdered on October 7, and walking together — for life. It was the highest honor and responsibility.

The most powerful moment for me in Poland was during the opening ceremony, when Holocaust survivor Sarah Weinstein (Sarale) took the stage to speak. At first, I smiled, but with every word she said, I began to cry more and more — tears of pain, mixed with hope and joy.

Sarah told us how her mother was murdered while shielding her as a child, how she fled with her father and sisters from a burning house to hide in the forests, enduring years of freezing cold and terrible hunger. Her father was also killed, and she and her two sisters were left alone, eventually taken to an orphanage before immigrating to Israel.

Sarah then turned to us — the freed hostages sitting in the audience, Agam Berger, Raya Rotem, and me — and said:

“After the Holocaust, I received psychological help at the Amcha center. I rebuilt myself. It wasn’t easy. You, more than anyone, know how hard it is to heal from pain. But it’s possible — believe me. Today, I am a happy woman.”

The words “I am a happy woman” broke me. As she said our names — mine, Agam’s, and Raya’s — and blessed us to find happiness as she did, I wept. I believe her, because I see her — a woman who survived hell at the age of six and a half, barefoot and naked in a forest at minus twenty-five degrees, smiling and telling us everything will be okay. The huge hug I gave her afterward could never be enough to thank her for the strength she gave me to continue this journey — and to continue living.

Thank you, Sarle.

Another unforgettable moment was at the Auschwitz crematoria, when our entire delegation stood together and sang Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem. I felt a divine presence listening to us — there, in the very place where children and adults were burned eighty years ago — and yet there was hope.

Holocaust survivors whose grandchildren had been taken hostage , the Kuperstein family whose grandchild Bar is still in Gaza and the Wenkert family whose son Omer returned, stood there with their heads held high, praying for the safe return of all hostages. It gave me chills. The thought that what we swore would “never happen again” has happened in our small country — to the same families who once endured similar horrors and survived — was overwhelming.

After the March, I spent time at a Shabbat Israelit (and Israel themed Shabbat program) in Warsaw with teens from around the world, sharing my story with them. It was emotional to look at these young people, physically distant from what’s happening in Israel, and tell them things that no one who wasn’t there could truly understand. I felt that my story — and theirs — mattered, that I was helping them process the week we’d all just experienced.

This week in Poland stays with me. It gives me perspective on my life today and renews my strength — especially after everything I’ve been through.

Thank you to the incredible Menomadin Foundation delegation for bringing me to the March of the Living — at exactly the right time in my life.

Thank you for the privilege of experiencing this meaningful journey.