Chabad Jewish Center of Cape Ann plans to host a community event to hear from an American woman held hostage and freed from Gaza following the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel.
Judith Raanan, one of the first hostages freed, is scheduled to speak Monday, June 23, at 7 p.m. in Gloucester. The location will be shared with attendees upon registration.
Raanan and her daughter, Natalie were visiting family in Israel when they were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the attacks on Oct. 7, which coincided with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.
After two weeks in captivity, the women were released, becoming the first of the hostages to be released from Gaza.
Raanan plans to share her story of survival, reflecting on the fear and uncertainty she endured, the strength she drew from faith and community, and the unshakeable hope that carried her through, according to Chabad.
“Judith’s return was not only a personal miracle — it became a symbol of strength, resilience, and unwavering faith,” Rabbi Avremi Raichik of Chabad of Cape Ann said. “Her voice is a testament to the power of the human spirit and the strength of our shared Jewish values.”
Raanan was 59 and her daughter was 17 when they traveled from Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, to Israel to celebrate the 85th birthday of Raanan’s mother in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the border with the Gaza Strip, Chabad said.
“It’s a remarkable story of courage and resilience,” Raichik said of Judith Raanan’s story, “and she actually became religious during captivity … She became more religious and she really found faith in God and meaning inside captivity, and she has a remarkable story and she is a remarkable woman.”
Raichik said the event is nonpolitical. It’s the first time one of the hostages from Oct. 7 is coming to Cape Ann and the North Shore.
“This is simply hearing a first-hand account of an event that happened last year by a woman who found the courage and resilience, faced with pure evil,” he said. “She was just a woman who happened to be in Israel,” he said.
The event is free to the public, but an RSVP is required to attend. The location of the talk will be shared upon registration. Admission is free and donations are appreciated. To register, please visit www.ChabadCapeAnn.com/HOSTAGE.