They barely survived Hamas: Israeli couple recount 'miracle' escape at Teaneck fundraiser
The alarm was set for 2 a.m. But it never went off.
That's why Roi Assaraf and his wife Yona were late to the Nova music festival in southern Israel. When they arrived at 6 a.m., they found the lot already packed with 2,000 cars and had to park on the periphery.
That, and a series of other coincidences, helped to save their lives on Oct. 7, the husband and father of two recalled for an audience in Teaneck on Thursday night.
Hamas turned the music festival into a massacre. An estimated 260 concertgoers were killed that day, part of the more than 1,200 people slain in last fall's terror attack. The slaughter at the festival in the Negev desert claimed the lives of 13 of Roi Assaraf's friends. Another remains in captivity in Gaza with roughly 130 other hostages.
Roi, a barber for 15 years in Jerusalem, transfixed the hundreds who gathered at the fundraiser at Congregation Keter Torah to hear his story. Before Oct. 7 he liked to party but never felt fully satisfied with his life, he said. The horrific events at the Nova festival − and the fact that he and his wife emerged unscathed − have transformed the couple, they told the crowd.
It's a story they have been sharing with audiences around the world in an effort to spread their message of faith.
"When we sat down and started to connect the dots of the way everything came together that day, we felt that what happened to us was an incredible miracle," Roi Assaraf said.
10,000 bags of supplies
The event, which drew a crowd of 850 people, was organized by Bergen County Lev Echad, which means "one heart" in Hebrew. The grassroots group of volunteers, most from the Teaneck and Englewood areas, formed in the days following Oct. 7. Organizers said it has sent over 10,000 duffle bags of supplies to Israeli soldiers and families that were displaced by the terror attack and the ensuing war.
The turnout was a demonstration of the support Israel retains in North Jersey's Jewish community, even as criticism grows over the costs of its war to defeat Hamas. Some 30,000 Palestinians have died amid the violence, according to Gaza health officials, and the United Nations has warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.
On Thursday night, Lev Echad volunteers said they were stunned and outraged by the Oct. 7 assault and wanted to help the families from southern Israel whose homes had been torched by Hamas, which the U.S. has declared a terrorist group. They raised donations and worked around the clock in send clothing, toys, and, most recently, a container with 5,000 winter jackets.
Volunteers and Jewish high school students packed duffel bags out of a warehouse donated by a Teaneck resident, while others transported the donations to Newark Liberty International Airport for shipping. "We were doing so many daily airports runs, we knew the staff at Newark Airport," said Daniel Malka of Englewood.
Avigdor Ben-Ari, a volunteer originally from Israel, traveled home to help distribute the aid. He said he crisscrossed the country, driving 20,000 miles while delivering the duffel bags to Israeli army bases and centers where displaced families were living.
'Bergen County sent the most'
A handler at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv told him, "Other Jewish communities from around the world sent supplies to Israel, but Bergen County sent the most," Ben-Ari told the crowd.
Many of the volunteers have close ties to Israel. They were concerned that thousands of soldiers, who were mobilized quickly in the wake of the Hamas attack, didn't have the adequate gear.
Organizers at Thursday's event said that the war in Gaza is far from over and the shipments are still needed. "People there still need our help and we will continue sending shipments as long as the items are needed," said Ari Wartelsky, a Lev Echad volunteer from Teaneck.
The audience cheered wildly when organizers displayed a $135,000 robotic dog, which walked onstage and sat down on command. The robot will be donated to the Israeli military for use in "special operations," the crowd was told.
More: Families plead for 'a lens of humanity' for loved ones still in Gaza
Escape from Nova festival
While there was pride and applause for the help Bergen County has mobilized, the crowd's most emotional reactions were stirred by the Assarafs.
The duo took turns speaking softly, and at times with tearful emotion, in Hebrew. Their presentation was translated, but judging from the crowd's sad sighs or laughter, many appeared to understand the story without help.
Upon arriving at the Nova festival, "We parked between two cars in the crowded parking lot and when I opened the door, I stepped on a milk crate," Roi recalled. "I picked it up and put it on the antenna so I could easily find our car afterward."
He, his wife and their friends made their way into the concert. They had a drink at the bar, where Yona left her jacket.
As the crowd enjoyed the music, he began to film the concert with his cellphone. When he looked up, he noticed two dark clouds in the sky. He zoomed in and realized they were missiles, launched by Hamas.
"The DJ went onstage and announced there were rockets and everyone should leave," Roi Assaraf said.
A lucky diversion
He grabbed his wife and turned toward the exit, but Yona insisted they get her coat at the bar. "I tried to convince her that she didn't need it, but she said we had to get it. When we got there, they opened the emergency exits." That was fortuitous, giving the couple an easier route to the parking lot. Other exits from the festival grounds turned out to be a death trap, he said.
The Assarafs began driving but were blocked by a line of cars in front of them. Yona recited a prayer in Hebrew for travelers. Suddenly, she told the audience on Thursday, the traffic parted, leaving a clear path out. Her husband said intuition told him to stay on that road.
The couple was heartened when they saw two military vehicles, assuming they were carrying Israeli soldiers. But they turned out to be filled with Hamas fighters.
"I looked at them and saw they had green headbands and said `they are terrorists!' I pushed my wife down under the glove compartment and shouted Shema Yisrael," Assaraf said, referring to Judaism's holiest prayer. "They pointed guns at us and started shooting. I drove as fast as I could while I ducked my head."
Assaraf said he couldn't see where he was driving. "But the bullets flew over our heads."
Close call with a missile
His brother, Idan, was still trapped at the festival. Assaraf considered turning around to try to get him but decided doing so would be a death sentence. Idan, who lost his car keys, couldn't flee by car. He hid in trees around the festival grounds for six hours but managed to survive, his brother said. Meanwhile, the Assarafs and their friends drove past an Israeli army base, where the friends urged him to seek shelter. But Roi Assaraf said his intuition again drove him to keep going. He learned later that "terrorists took over that base and were waiting to kill people."
When the group eventually stopped for gas near the city of Be'er Sheva, a missile landed near the car, he recounted.
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Eventually, the Assarafs reached their home in Jerusalem and reunited with their two young daughters. Roi and Yona went online and learned the scope of the massacre that had taken place at the festival. They watched videos of their friends being shot or taken hostage.
Hope in a time of pain
After six funerals, they found it difficult to go to more. They struggled to eat or sleep. They wondered why they had lived when so many others hadn't. They began to take stock of their lives.
Roi Assaraf put on a kippah, the head covering worn by observant Jewish men. He and his wife have embraced their faith more in the months since the attack. They began observing the Jewish Sabbath and attending synagogue.
Roi closed his hair salon and began giving free haircuts to soldiers and others who needed them. He began searching for new meaning in his life, he told the Teaneck audience. The couple reflected on what seemed like a series of miracles that saved them on Oct. 7.
Despite the horrors of that day, Roi Assaraf said he now feels more fulfilled. He has spoken to others who escaped the festival and is collecting their stories for a book. Thus far, he said, he has compiled 80 tales of survival to give people hope amid a time of pain.
Now, he is praying that the remaining hostages will be released so that he can include their stories as well.
Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: yellin@northjersey.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Israeli couple share 'miracle' escape from Hamas at Teaneck fundraiser
