Less than three months ago, Eliya Cohen, 28, was a hostage in Gaza. He endured 505 days of hell. During his captivity, he underwent surgery without anesthesia to remove bullets from his body and was warned not to make a sound during the surgery. He was tortured and still suffers from a gunshot wound in his leg. He has no ligaments left in his shoulders and dislocates them even in his sleep. He also has issues with his knees and hearing.
The worst part, he said, was the starvation. It felt like a Yom Kippur that lasted nearly a year-and-a-half. Still, despite everything he went through — including the loss of dozens of good friends — Cohen is one of the most optimistic people you’ll ever meet.
This month, he joined a group of children with cancer who arrived in Los Angeles for a 10-day dream vacation organized by Lehosheet Yad, an Israeli foundation dedicated to supporting children with cancer and their families.
“It was something that I thought a lot about while in captivity,” he told The Journal. “I felt like I want to give back to the community. So, after my release, I met with Rabbi Avraham Attar, the founder of the organization and told him I want to volunteer. He told me, ‘We are going on a trip to LA very soon with the children — you are welcome to join us.’”
Cohen immediately said he was on board. “When I returned [from captivity] I was showered with love and it felt so good that I wanted to give back in some way. Also, it was my fiancé’s birthday, so it felt like the right time and we both joined the trip.”
I met with Cohen on the last day of the group’s visit to Los Angeles. The next day, they were flying back home with suitcases full of gifts and hearts full of memories from an unforgettable vacation.
They visited Disneyland, Universal Studios and Six Flags Magic Mountain, went on a boat trip, rode RZRs through the dunes, went tubing and more. They were also showered with gifts by YMI owner David Vered, who invited them for a free shopping spree at his jeans factory.
Vered, along with his wife Esther and partners Rabbi Nachman and Elki Abend, Kobi and Lilach Serazi, launched the local branch of the organization 16 years ago. It’s not an easy task and quite an expensive one, but they continue doing it year after year.
This year, 25 children and young adults made the trip. I met the group at their farewell party on the rooftop of Chabad of North Hollywood. They were full of smiles and gratitude.
Milan, 20, Noya, 18, and Shani, 17, met just two months ago during a trip to Dubai and have already become best friends. The beautiful young women were diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma within months of each other, in the summer of 2024. While they loved visiting the parks and attending the parties hosted for them, they said the real highlight was simply being together.
“All these trips give us strength and a break from treatments. We also meet other teens who are dealing with the same thing we do and we realize we’re not alone in this,” said Milan.
Her friend Shani added, “You suddenly forget everything you’ve been through. You’re with friends you love being around and you share such amazing experiences together.”
“Sometimes it feels like we’ve missed out on so much while our friends just keep going with their lives,” said Noya. “But then I think, none of them got to travel the world like us. It’s like — wow! I was in Dubai, now I’m in LA. Kids our age don’t usually get to experience all of that.”
“It gives us the opportunity to just be kids again,” Milan said. “I feel like I appreciate things more now. We stay optimistic. In the beginning, it’s very hard, but you learn to appreciate life, to realize that you’re still here and you put things in perspective and I learned to value what I do have.”
One of the volunteers who joined the group on this trip is 24-year-old Gur. He was diagnosed with sarcoma at 17, and again at 22. He first came to LA as part of this same program shortly after his initial diagnosis. Today, he’s back — as a volunteer.
“These trips are more than just vacations; they give you strength,” he said. “I truly believe it’s what keeps me healthy. Someone who hasn’t been in this situation can’t understand how much these trips mean. These kids don’t get to build new friendships during treatment, but here, they meet others with stories just like theirs. It creates a connection like no other.”
The group was joined by two additional released hostages Eitan Yahalomi, 13, and Yagil Cohen, 14.
Cohen, despite his injuries, assisted with pushing children in wheelchairs and spent time sitting and talking with them. His nearly year-and-a-half in captivity wasn’t much of a subject. In a way, he said, they have a lot in common, they all stared death in the face and survived it.
“They are very mature for their age,” he said. “It made me feel great spending time with them.”
While the group left for Israel the next day, Eliya stayed in the U.S. and traveled to the East Coast to give lectures about his experience in captivity. It’s important for him to raise awareness and speak about what he had witnessed in Gaza, the unimaginable cruelty of Hamas, and what had helped him survive.
“My faith in God gave me incredible strength. He kept showing me signs that I would eventually return home, and I trusted Him with all my heart,” he said. “I was in captivity with three people who didn’t believe in God. When I first met them, I had this routine: I’d wake up in the morning, pray, and read Psalms, and every Friday I would do Kiddush by myself. That ritual really kept me grounded and centered.”
At first, the other hostages were surprised by his determination. They were bombarded from above, their building was destroyed, they were literally holding on to stay alive and still, Cohen was getting up each morning to say his prayers. “Over time, they noticed that I wasn’t losing myself, and eventually, they joined me. They began doing Kiddush with me, reading Psalms, and praying with me each morning. They told me, ‘We see how much this strengthens us and keeps us going in this place.’”
Today, the hostages who were with him and also released still put tefillin on each day, he said. When I asked him how he stayed optimistic despite everything he had gone through, he said, “Even when bad things happen, or something painful comes my way, I believe that maybe it’s not truly bad for me. God knows what’s good for me. And in the end, when I look back, I realize it was all for a reason. So many times in my life, things seemed like the end of the world. And then later, I’d say: ‘Wow, that was actually for my benefit. How come I didn’t see it?’”
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