Captivity survivors tie the knot: 'We prayed for this for so long'

The morning after the wedding that captivated Israel, former hostage Yelena Trufanov shared her reflections on the marriage of her son, former hostage Sasha Trufanov, to his beloved, former hostage Sapir Cohen.

“It was a very emotional and joyful occasion; we prayed for it for so long,” Trufanov said in an interview on Kan News' midday program.

“It felt like a wonderful dream. Everyone who was with us through that difficult time came to celebrate with us. Everyone danced—it was so moving.”

In the interview, Yelena spoke about the drawing that Emilia Aloni made for her during their time together in Hamas captivity. Young Emilia drew the wedding of Sasha and Sapir, at a time when Yelena still didn't know whether her son was alive.

“It was very important for me to smuggle the drawing out of captivity and hold on to it, because it gave me hope that it would happen,” Yelena revealed. When asked how she managed to bring the drawing out despite the ban on keeping notes, she said: “I hid it in my bra. I said, whatever happens, happens, I don’t care.”

Yelena also shared a personal and painful decision she made after her release: not to visit the grave of her husband, Vitaly Trufanov, who was killed on Oct. 7, until their son Sasha returned. “I said to myself: either I’ll go with our son, or I’ll end up lying next to him. I don’t want to go alone,” she said. She added that only after Sasha returned did they go together with Vitaly’s mother and brother to the grave to tell him about the upcoming wedding. “We felt his absence yesterday, but I am sure he saw us from above.”

Describing the change her son went through after his long and difficult period in captivity, Yelena said, “He came back a much more sensitive and spiritual person. He was there for 498 days, 495 of them alone. He said he had a lot of time to think about life and reflect. He came back a better person.”

She said the young couple is now planning to build a home and pursue their future plans. “They are planning to build a home, and I hope, God willing, also to have children. The most important thing to them now is simply to grow and develop in life.”

The wedding was attended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal, as well as many captivity survivors who became like family to them during the months of waiting and struggle, including Daniel and Emilia Aloni, Arbel Yehud and Ariel Cunio, Rom Braslavski, Tal Shoham and members of the Kupershtein family.