On Monday morning, Bruriah High School had the extraordinary privilege to host Roi Assaraf whose incredible story of survival and resilience on October 7 has captivated audiences across the internet and global Jewish community. Roi and his wife, Yona, were in attendance at the Nova Music Festival and since then they have made it their mission to publicize the miracle of their survival.
In his address to the students and faculty, Roi briefly chronicled his life leading up to October 7, describing it as a carefree existence centered around his career as a hairdresser and raising two daughters with his wife with little connection to Judaism. He and his wife attended the Nova Music Festival along with many of their friends. They were having fun when suddenly there was a seismic shift. As Roi described the events of that horrible morning to the students, he shared the moment in which he felt a tangible shemira (protection) surrounding his car after begging Hashem that they reach their daughters safely back home.
They miraculously dodged bullets and missiles only to arrive home to discover that 15 friends had been murdered and two friends, Eliya Cohen and Elkana Bohbot, had been taken hostage. Roi grappled with profound despair, but his wife urged resilience. Recognizing their responsibility to share their story and publicize the miracle, they embarked on compiling 80 similar stories of survival into a book titled “October 7: My Private Miracle.” This initiative aims to offer strength to the Jewish people amidst tragedy.
In addition to this more public mission, Roi and his family began to undertake a mission of a more personal nature, adopting observance of Shabbos and other mitzvos. They understood that this was the only logical way forward as Hashem had clearly arranged for them to be saved. Roi explained that once he took hold of his emunah, he turned over the entire burden to Hashem for Him to handle. Roi emphasized that the word baayah, problem (beis, ayin, yud, hey) is an acronym for borei olam yiftor hakol, Hashem will take care of everything. Bearing this in mind, Roi shared with the students that we all have to hold on tight and work to strengthen our personal relationship with Hashem.
Roi ended his story with a very special bracha to the students: That we should always be b’achdus and we should not wait for a terrible tragedy to bring us all together.
Bruriah students shared how profoundly impactful and inspiring they found Roi’s message, emerging with a newfound appreciation of both Klal Yisrael’s responsibilities in the aftermath of October 7 as well as the privilege to have Hashem and His mitzvos to carry us through difficult times.
