Reborn: Half a year after the massacre, Nova survivors gave birth to a child

When she was pregnant, Esther Moshe and her partner - Shlomi Tobi, ran 20 km from Hamas terrorists on the morning of October 7.10.23, XNUMX. Half a year later, they embrace a common son born in Rambam and give thanks for the miracle of birth and rebirth.

"There was the moment when they put the handle of the delivery room on my hand, next to the Nova's bracelet. When I saw them next to each other, I started to cry," is how Shlomi Tovi (37), a resident of Kiryat, who became a new father a few days ago, describes the moment when Realized that he was born again. again.

A first-born son was born to the Nova survivors ► Watch

An intimate, marital and national moment

Right there, when he stood next to the cradle of his son who had just come out into the world in Rambam, he and his partner, Esther Moshe, and everyone who accompanied them at the birth, fell apart from the intensity of the emotion. It was an intimate moment, a marital moment, a national moment, an unimaginable moment in which sadness So great becomes pure happiness. The moment when the survivors of the blood party in Bad, "The Nova", brought new life into the world.

"It's not obvious. Not understandable at all," clarifies Esther Moshe (35), as she sits on a bed in the maternity ward at Rambam, holding her son in her arms and Tovi by her side, supportive and encouraging, "We could easily be part of those who are not with us today or be With a question mark, and waiting to return home," she says with tears of sadness and joy, "Thank God for this treasure we hold in our hands."

The events of October 7 caught Toby and Esther in the south

The "Nova" nature party, for which they had been waiting for a long time, was then in full swing, when the missiles and the sounds of gunfire began to close in on them: "A party that became a defining event," Moshe recounts what happened only six months ago, but feels like in another life, "We didn't understand what was happening We thought an attack, the color red, the usual things. We didn't imagine such a massacre," she says, struggling to hold back the tears. "You were such a hero," Tobi tells her, "you led us away in a mad dash."

Esther Moshe, who was in her first months of pregnancy at the time of the horrors, mobilized all the instincts that nature made available to her, and led Tobi, her partner, and her friends to the escape route from the scene:
"All I cared about was keeping the treasure in my belly, my partner and my friendships. We couldn't look back. Behind was only death and horror. We had to keep moving forward," she recalls, explaining, "There were moments when Shlomi said "Mami, you're pregnant. Let's stop, I didn't agree to stop for a moment. I don't know if I'm going to continue."

Tobi, who remembers with concern those critical hours says:
"Everything was random. We didn't know where we were going and what we were running away from. We saw people getting hit and falling, right by us. Gunshots from everywhere and we followed her, continuing. Like that, 20 km, until we reached Hatish, where we were received by an amazing family who took care of us , checked that she was okay, that's where we could relax, that's where the chips started to fall"

"Feelings accompany every moment during the day"

For the past half year since then, the couple tried, with great difficulty, to return to normality:
"It's not easy to behave as if everything is fine after going through something like this," says the new mother, "the feelings accompany every moment during the day, but each one and the mechanism that protects it. We try to see the glass full and say thank you for being here. If we survived, then We have a role," emphasizes Tobi, "It's part of who we are, it's also part of the trans community and the group of survivors of the Nova. We are all brothers. We were all reborn on the same day. The birth of our child - it feels much bigger than it is, the meaning of the Nova is birth anew. There is life after this terrible disaster, a large part of them are my friends, there is hope and there is love."