4 minutes
read
The story of one Israeli hostage and his 3-year-old granddaughter
Anav Silverman Peretz
A few weeks ago, I was sitting with my family at McDonalds, on the way back home to our home in the Negev desert after a visit with our in-laws in Raanana. Our kids were munching on French fries, while my husband went to get our order. I watched Israelis, young and old, sitting together in the American fast food chain, quite popular in Israel.
But something was different here. Next to the famous yellow arches above the counter, which my daughter refers to as bunny ears, there was a screen displaying rotating photos of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. They had all been kidnapped on October 7, 2023 when thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel, brutally massacring and pillaging homes of Israelis living in communities close to the border.
And then suddenly, I saw him - a photo of a grandfather who had been kidnapped by Hamas. His name is Alex Dancyg. I don’t know him on a personal level but his granddaughter goes to my son’s daycare. In the photo, Alex has a friendly twinkle in his eyes under a fringe of white hair. The 75-year-old who has a heart condition, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from his home on October 7, alongside dozens of other kibbutz residents, and has been held hostage in Gaza ever since.
Alex’s granddaughter, Alma, regularly plays together with our children in the afternoons. Alma recently attended our son’s three-year-old birthday, happily joining him in eating the birthday cake. I’ve gotten to know Alex’s son, Mati, a high school teacher, and his wife, Shiri, and their three children in the last few months. They miraculously survived the Hamas terror attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz, by hiding in the shelter of their home, all while hearing the terrorists outside firing bullets non-stop outside.
Like tens of thousands of displaced families from kibbutzim and cities close to the Gaza border following October 7, the Dancyg family was forced to flee their burnt kibbutz. They found shelter and an available apartment about an hour away from their home in our community.
The Dancygs are regular, everyday people placed in a horrifying situation. Shiri, who is an art therapist by profession, tells me that each time a hostage deal seems to be on the horizon, only to get stalled again, the family falls apart. “We experience these flickers of hope every time the talks begin, and then nothing happens. Mati does not know what to do anymore,” she told me. “He needs his dad back.”
And Alma, her sisters and their cousins need their grandfather.
Alex Dancyg was born in Poland to Holocaust survivor parents in 1948. He came to Israel in 1957 and became internationally known for his work as a Holocaust historian and educator at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, for over three decades. He even received the Silver Cross of Merit from the former Polish President Lech Kaczyński for his work in fostering Polish-Jewish dialogue. Since Dancyg's abduction, murals with the hashtag “StandWithAlex” have been painted in various locations across Warsaw.
Alongside his work in Holocaust education, Dancyg was a potato and peanut farmer in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
But while his three-year-old granddaughter, Alma, doesn’t necessarily know all these details about her grandfather, what she does know is that she misses him.
The other day, Alma and her mother walked with us to the playground after daycare was over, as we often do. Along the way, Alma paused to look at a poster of the faces of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza that have decorated cities and communities across Israel since October 7. “Look mom,” she said. “There’s grandpa Alex.”
The young girl walked to the photo and planted a kiss on the somewhat faded photo of her grandfather.
“You found grandpa, Alma,” said her mother, quietly.
We all stood there, somewhat surprised by Alma’s actions. My son, Meron, touched the picture of Alex, looking at him curiously. And I stood still in a silent prayer that Alma will get to kiss her beloved grandfather - face to face - as soon as miraculously possible.
Unfortunately, as of Monday, July 22, after obtaining new intelligence information, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that Alex Dancyg was killed in Hamas captivity several months ago. The Israeli military stated that it was still conducting an ongoing probe into the circumstances of his death (and that of Israeli hostage, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, who was apparently held together with Alex in Khan Younis, Gaza).
Anav Silverman Peretz is a native of Maine who moved to Israel in 2004. She lives with her family in the Negev highlands where she works as an English educator.
Facebook comments