Former hostage Or Levy’s tattoo honours Hersh Goldberg-Polin, "His words helped me survive"

Spoken to him by the late Hersh Goldberg-Polin on their 52nd day in captivity, these words became Levy’s lifeline. “That sentence has stayed with me ever since,” he wrote. “Maybe it’s why I survived that hell. My ‘why’ was Almog—for him, I knew I’d endure anything, no matter how brutal.”

Levy resolved during his ordeal to immortalize the phrase in ink if he made it out. “I knew back in captivity that when I returned, I’d get this tattoo so I’d never forget,” he shared. Now free, he fulfilled that vow, a permanent tribute to Hersh and his own resilience. Sharing the story with Hersh’s parents, Rachel and Jon, Levy learned the line’s origins—a Nietzsche quote cited in Viktor Frankl’s 'Man’s Search for Meaning'. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, used it to describe the mental fortitude that carried him through Auschwitz. “I’ve avoided Holocaust comparisons,” Levy noted, “but the parallels are undeniable.”

Since fighting resumed in Gaza, Levy’s memories of captivity—fear, abuse, and constant danger—have resurfaced. “I can’t help but think of those days, the psychological and physical torment, the ever-present threat to our lives,” he wrote. That threat still looms over the 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, a reality that haunts him. “The ‘how’ is indescribably hard—how they suffer there, how their families ache. Nothing matters more than saving them.”

Levy’s plea was raw and urgent: “I beg you all—help us end this unbearable suffering.” His tattoo, inked in Hersh’s memory, isn’t just art—it’s a call to action, a reminder of the “why” driving the fight to bring the captives home, etched forever on his skin and soul.