From the dark pits of Gaza, bright sparks of hope and faith are being revealed. Daniella Gilboa revealed on Tuesday that she and four of her fellow captives learned to sing a prayer welcoming Shabbat…in Arabic.

The Shalom Aleichem prayer (‘Peace be upon you’) is a traditional song sung by many Jews every Friday night upon returning home from synagogue prayer. It signals the arrival of the Shabbat, welcoming the angels who accompany a person home on the eve of the Shabbat. The Talmud teaches that when Jews return home from synagogue on Shabbat, two ministering angels accompany them and this song is sung in their honor.

Gilboa was one of seven female IDF soldiers taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7. After 15 months in captivity, she was released last month. As the hostages return, several relate that heroic acts of faith helped them through the horrific ordeal. Daniella recently revealed that she learned to sing Shalom Aleichem in Arabic to confuse her captors. 

Upon her return, Danielle related that prayer played an important role in her ordeal. After Hamas infiltrated the Nahal Oz base, she hid in a bomb shelter with other female soldiers for half an hour. 

“I didn’t want to give up and say goodbye, so instead, I prayed and believed with all my heart that my end was not there – in that shelter,” she said. 

“I couldn’t hold on to the security that the army might give me and might come to protect me. I couldn’t hold on to the security that the shelter might provide because it wasn’t just missiles. At that moment, I also couldn’t hold on to the few armed women who were there. I knew that the only thing that could save us was faith.”

Another female soldier taken captive on that day, Agam Berger, refused to desecrate the Sabbath to desecrate the Shabbat throughout her captivity.