
Omer had never been strictly religious. Like many secular Israelis, faith was a distant concept. He had completed his military service and was waiting tables to save for a post-army trip to South America. Yet, within days of his abduction, he began talking to God, making promises, and blessing the scraps of food he was given. It was faith, he would later recall, that kept him anchored—a source of strength in a reality with no clocks, no sunlight, and no certainty of survival.