Chabad.org StaffApril 4, 2025 12:51 PM – Alexander “Sasha” Troufanov, who was held hostage by Hamas for 498 days after being kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, visited the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. Troufanov prayed at the holy site on Wednesday, April 2, along with his partner, 29-year-old Sapir Cohen who was also kidnapped by Hamas and held captive until the November 2023 ceasefire. The pair thanked G‑d at the Ohel and prayed for the release of the remaining 59 hostages.
Earlier, the pair visited the Rebbe’s synagogue at Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, and had a private moment in the Rebbe’s office, where Troufanov wrapped tefillin. They were accompanied by Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, director of Merkos Suite 302, and Rabbi Levi Lazar, of Chabad Moscow.
Troufanov’s family has a long association with Chabad-Lubavitch.
Born in Rostov, Russia, in 1995 to Vitaly and Elena Troufanov, Sasha moved to Israel with his family when he was 3 years old. They quickly settled in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Sasha studied electrical engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and later moved to central Israel to work for Amazon on its web-services team.
On the weekend of Oct. 7, Sasha and his partner, 29-year-old Sapir Cohen, were visiting his parents at the kibbutz. Nir Oz was among the first communities targeted when Palestinian terrorists launched their attack that morning. The terrorists reached the kibbutz by 7 a.m., when most residents had taken shelter in their safe rooms due to rocket fire.
Despite a brave defense, the kibbutz’s security team was overwhelmed with many either killed or captured. For hours, Hamas and affiliated Palestinian terrorists moved through the community, killing residents, taking hostages and burning homes. A quarter of Nir Oz’s population was murdered, kidnapped or severely wounded. Among those killed was 50-year-old Vitaly Troufanov. Taken hostage were Elena, 50; her mother, Irena Tati, 78; Sasha and Sapir.
While the Troufanovs left Russia in the late 1990s, Elena’s mother, Irena Tati, continued living in Rostov for years, forming a close relationship with Rabbi Chaim and Kaila Danzinger, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries who lead the Jewish Community of Rostov.
“Irena was in synagogue every single week, came to my wife’s women’s classes every week and was a very active member of the community,” said Rabbi Danzinger. About a year before Oct. 7 Irena relocated to Israel to live closer to her children, settling near them in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Immediately following the terror attack, the Danzingers realized their close friend Irena lived in one of the most heavily impacted towns and tried calling her, but her phone was off. “We weren’t sure if she was kidnapped, or G‑d forbid she had been killed,” recalled the rabbi. About a week later they learned that she, together with her family, had been kidnapped.
That’s when Danzinger contacted Rabbi Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, to let him know that three Russian citizens—Irena, Elena and Sasha—were being held captive in Gaza, and Lazar began immediately advocating on the family’s behalf in Moscow.
When Kaila Danzinger celebrated her 40th birthday in Rostov later that winter, instead of a big birthday bash she organized a women’s evening of song and prayer in the merit of the safe return of the hostages. In an allusion to the tambourine of Miriam the Prophetess, the women decorated tambourines that evening, making three extra ones—for Irena, Elena and Sapir.
The very next day, on Nov. 29, 2023, Elena and Irena were released by Hamas. Sapir was released the next day on Nov. 30 as part of a week-long cease fire.
But Sasha remained behind.
In the months that followed, the Troufanov family campaigned nonstop for Sasha’s release, creating various social-media pages sharing details of his life and updating the public on his status. They also prayed. Irena had been keeping Shabbat since her days in Rostov, but now Elena joined her in celebrating the holy day each and every week, and calling on all Jewish women and girls to fill the world with light by kindling the Shabbat candles.
During this period the family also received a dollar bill from the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. The dollar of blessing was presented to the family by Chabad.org’s Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, who runs Tech Tribe—a community for Jews in tech—during the organization’s solidarity trip to Israel for Jews in the tech industry, where Sasha worked. The dollar was generously provided by Rabbi Yosef Wolvovsky of Chabad Jewish Center in Glastonbury, Conn.
Throughout Sasha’s captivity in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad released several “proof-of-life” videos featuring him, part of the group’s continued acts of psychological terror. Two days before his release, a final video was shared of him being led down the beach on a fishing trip, as a final sadistic act capping off nearly 500 days in captivity.
During the 42-day ceasefire that began in January, Troufanov was one of the 25 living hostages and 8 deceased hostages ransomed by Hamas.
“I thank G‑d, the Creator of the world, I am really thankful that He released my son,” Elena said. “I am so thankful to Him [G‑d], and I know that it was all from the merit of the prayers of all of us. All of Am Yisrael. All those who prayed in the merit of Sasha.”
But Elena isn’t done praying:
“We continue to pray until the last hostage … all must return.”
Thank G‑d and the Global Jewish Community
Reunited with his family, it didn’t take long for Troufanov to thank G‑d for his new-found freedom. On Sunday morning, Troufanov donned tefillin and prayed with the assistance of Rabbi Lazar, who maintained a close relationship with the family since their release and campaign to bring Sasha home. This was the first time that Troufanov had ever wrapped tefillin, marking his bar mitzvah.
The tefillin was part of a larger gift from the Jewish community of Russia—Troufanov’s birthplace—that also included a bag with his name printed in both Hebrew and Russian, a siddur prayer book and a Chitas. Lazar presented the package to Troufanov at the Sheba Medical Center, where the former hostages are recovering. Lazar then helped him lay the tefillin and recite the Shema prayer.
In a conversation with Chabad.org, Troufanov’s mother expressed her deepest gratitude to the global Jewish community that came together in prayer for her son’s release.
“I know that the prayers of everyone, all those who prayed in the merit of Sasha; they were what protected him. I know this with certainty. Because there [in Gaza] he had moments that were very difficult,” she said. “He had moments there where he was really close to being killed. But G‑d protected him.”
A Place of Prayer for Hostage Families
The Ohel has become a significant place of prayer for the families of hostages.
Eli Sharabi, who was held hostage by Hamas for 491 days after being kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, visited the Ohel two weeks ago. Sharabi’s visit to the Ohel carried deep significance for him and his family. Last year, his brother Sharon came to the Rebbe’s resting place with Chabad-Lubavitch activist Rabbi Mendy Naftalin to pray for his brother’s release. Exactly a year to the date later, Sharabi was freed, and Naftalin accompanied the brothers on their return trip to express their gratitude for the miraculous blessings.
Sharabi was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, and separated from his wife Leanne and daughters Noya and Yahel. His brother Yossi was also taken hostage. For 491 days, he was starved and tortured by Hamas, holding onto hope that he would eventually be reunited with his family.
At the Ohel, Sharabi spoke about the role of faith in keeping him alive. “I came from the darkest place in the world — 50 meters underground,” he said. “What gave me strength was saying Shema Yisrael every morning. Every Friday night, we tried to make Kiddush. We didn’t have wine, so we used water. It was the faith that kept us alive.”
Sharabi was one of the 25 living hostages released with Troufanov over the course of the 42 day ceasefire that began in January. Yossi Sharabi was murdered in captivity, and his body is still being held by the Palestinian terror organization.
Following a cynical release charade, during which the world was shocked by his emaciated appearance and how Hamas prodded him to share how excited he was to be reunited with his family, Sharabi was transferred to Israeli officials on Feb. 8, where he was informed that his wife and two daughters had been murdered on Oct. 7. One of his first requests was a spiritual one—a pair of tefillin—and his family’s Chabad rabbi was ready to help.
Rabbi Shneur Raskin, Chabad emissary to Alfei Menashe, Israel, had been in touch with Sharabi’s family throughout his captivity in Gaza. When he heard about Eli’s request, he jumped into action, procuring a beautiful set of tefillin in custom embroidered bags that read: “The entire nation of Israel hugs you.”
At the Ohel, Sharabi recited the traditional Kaddish mourner’s prayer for his brother for the first time.
In November 2023, Sharon Sharabi joined 170 other family members of hostages in a visit to New York to pray at the Rebbe’s Ohel. Organized by the Terror Victims Project of the Chabad Youth Organization, the flight was chartered for the sole reason of bringing family members to pray for a miracle at the holy site.
Sharabi’s visit to the Ohel echoes a pilgrimage made by fellow former hostage Noa Argamani in July 2024, following her rescue. Argamani, 26, was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Re’im music festival massacre on Oct. 7. Images and videos of her—some of the first released by Hamas on that day—pleading to her captors from the back of a motorcycle, her arm extended in hope and screaming “don’t kill me,” were some of the first markers of the brutality that would await the hostages, and she became a face of the hostage crisis. She was reaching out to Avinatan Or, 31, who was also kidnapped on that day. He is still held in captivity in Gaza, one of 24 of the remaining 59 hostages thought to be alive. A hostage that was recently released shared a sign of life from Or, the first since he was captured.
On the November trip to the Ohel, Noa’s father, Yaakov, was among the 170 family members who came to pray. He was famously pictured placing a photo of his daughter at the Ohel bearing the words “Bring Her Home Now.”
At the time, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky—a member of the Rebbe’s secretariat and chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and Machne Yisrael, Chabad’s respective educational and social-services arms—addressed the crowd with words of hope.
“Our days and our nights are focused in prayer, demanding that your loved ones—our loved ones—come home to you safe and sound, physically and spiritually,” Krinsky said.
At that point, Yaakov didn’t even know if his daughter was alive. But on June 8—245 days after she was taken into captivity—Argamani and three other hostages were rescued from Gaza in a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet and the Israeli Police.
Noa’s mother, Liora, who was terminally ill and had expressed her last wish was to see her daughter, held on to welcome back her daughter. She died three weeks later.
Weeks after her release, much like Sharabi and Troufanov 8 months later, Argamani visited the Ohel to express her gratitude to G‑d for her release, and pray that all hostages are freed in good health soon.
Prime Minister’s Wife Joins Hostage Families
Hostage families have also accompanied high-level Israeli officials on visits to the Ohel. Seven families of Israeli hostages kidnapped and taken into Gaza by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7 visited the Ohel on September 24, 2024. They were joined there by Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the eve of her husband’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
The families traveled to New York together with the Prime Minister and the Israeli delegation.
Kobi Samerano, whose 21-year-old son Yonatan (Jonathan) disappeared from the Nova festival in Re’im on Oct. 7, was among them. In December, the Israeli government confirmed that Yonatan had been killed by Hamas terrorists, before his body was stolen into Gaza by an UNRWA employee.
“This was my first time visiting the Ohel,” Samerano told Chabad.org. “This felt like a strong hug; it strengthened us.”
Yael Goren-Hezkiya, head of the Government Policy and Foreign Relations Division in the Kidnapped, Missing and Returnees administration at the Prime Minister’s Office, said the visit to the Ohel was planned long ago. “This is something that the families very much wanted and asked for,” she said at the time.