Stunned into silence: Former Israeli hostage Bar Kuperstein on his mother’s daring response to Hamas terrorist’s call

Bar Kuperstein, one of the last hostages to be released from Hamas captivity, has shared how Hamas terrorists who were holding him were totally dumbfounded by the words on a bracelet belonging to his mother.

Following the kidnapping of Kuperstein, now aged 23, his mother had wrist bands made which read, “My son is always in the hands of the Creator” in the Hebrew language as a reminder to herself and others to pray for her son’s safety and release.

Kuperstein was 22 when he was kidnapped by Hamas. He had been serving as a paramedic volunteer with the “Yedidim” organization and was working as a security guard at the Nova Music Festival. According to the “Bring Them Home” website, in the chaos of the terrifying attack on Oct. 7, 2023, he attended to the injured and fought against the terrorists with his bare hands, totally unarmed.

Courage seems to be a family trait as his mother Julie Kuperstein demonstrated when she received a phone call from one of the terrorists holding her son, demanding that she do more for his release.

“One of the terrorists called my mother and told her she was not doing enough to free me and that if she wanted to see me again she needed to go out, file complaints at the Hague and really fight," Kuperstein explained.

"He tried to frighten her with psychological warfare and expected her to answer stammering or in fear," Kuperstein relayed, clearly impressed with his mother’s faith and courage in such an extreme situation: "She simply told him the following sentence: 'My son is not in your hands but always in the hands of the Creator.”

What is even more remarkable than her confidence in the Creator to guard her son’s life was that she even gave the terrorist something to think about: “You are also in the hands of the Creator," she warned him, solemnly.

Apparently Kuperstein’s captor took some time before deciding how to respond to that.

"There was a moment of silence because the terrorist did not know what to answer and then he replied, 'Well done, madam.' Since then that has been the slogan that accompanies us," Kuperstein explained.

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Julie Kuperstein was delighted to see her son immediately choosing to “lay tefillin” on his release, which is the Jewish practice of binding God’s commands to your hand, as mentioned in Deuteronomy chapter 6:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

“Bar didn’t enter captivity as a religious man, but his faith was strong and became stronger there,” she said, according to YNet. “He spoke to God. To see Bar laying tefillin is a deeply emotional moment – a Jewish soul being filled again. This is also a tribute to the thousands of volunteers and supporters worldwide who prayed and laid tefillin for him and all the hostages for two years.”

She said her son was someone who was, “all light, who hadn’t seen the sun in so long.”

Kuperstein made his first public appearance on Tuesday evening at Hostages’ Square for the event “Singing Together for Their Return.”

“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for your prayers, your support, and everything you’ve done for me and for all the other hostages - I have no words to describe all the love and what you’re doing for us,” he said. “I feel gratitude beyond words to everyone who fought for so long to bring us home.”

“I passed through a very difficult period, to say the least. It will take me some time to adjust,” he continued. “But the most important thing is that I am here – with my family, with friends, with the people I love. I am home. I am free.”