Orly Gilboa: "We Changed Daniela's Name After She Was Captured - I Hope She Knows"

On Simchat Torah, lookout soldier Danielle (later Daniela) Gilboa, aged 19, was on base for Shabbat. For her family, it was a quiet, typical weekend until troubling rumors began to surface. "Most of Shabbat, we didn't understand what was happening, we just thought there was no signal because they were in a bunker," recalls Orly, Daniela's mother. "The last communication we had with her was on Shabbat morning when she informed us they were hearing gunfire, voices, and explosions, and that there were intruders on the base. We lost contact after that. Only later in the evening, when reports came from the base and from survivors at hospitals describing a very serious situation, did we start to realize it was much worse than we imagined."

Soon after, the family began receiving images of captives and started to grasp that their lives would be altered forever. "We saw Daniela wasn't among them, nor was she among the injured at hospitals, and we feared the worst. In those moments, I spoke to Hashem, telling Him: 'If you return my daughter, I will observe family purity.' I suddenly remembered that a few days earlier, during the festival of Sukkot, we were on a family vacation in Jerusalem. At the Western Wall, a woman spoke to me and my two daughters about the importance of family purity, describing it as protection for one's home and children. Remembering this, I vowed to take up this commandment if I received a sign of life from her. The next day we learned that Daniela was taken captive and hadn't been killed, as we initially feared."

Since then, Daniela—who was originally Danielle—celebrated her 20th birthday, a date her parents and younger sister Noam marked with deep pain in her absence. Two weeks after the abduction, they decided to add the letter "Hey" to her name. "We consulted a rabbi in Petah Tikva, who strongly recommended adding 'Hey,' or giving her a second name, so we chose this option as protection." Orly describes how, clinging to hope that her daughter might hear radio broadcasts and wasn't confined in underground tunnels, she reached out to her during radio interviews to share that they had changed her name. To this day, she doesn't know if Daniela received the message.

Two months after the abduction, the family held a Torah dedication at the synagogue in their neighborhood. During the event, Daniela's partner, Roi—who since her capture had been sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor—proposed to her, amidst the tears of those present.

Who Was Orly Before Simchat Torah?

"I studied for a bachelor's and master's degree in Business Administration. I've been a banker for 23 years, still considered a bank employee, and before Simchat Torah, I went to work. As a family, we often traveled abroad since our daughters were young—many times to the U.S., Europe, Dubai, even during the pandemic. These trips were our quality time as a family. Otherwise, my life was very boring, very routine. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would face something like this.

"Ran, my husband, is self-employed, managing a physical therapy rehabilitation center. He doesn't work all the time but makes sure to go to maintain a routine. He's less active in the meetings and communications I'm involved in. That's not his thing, so he needs to keep himself busy, but for half a day and then returns."

"I couldn't watch her entire video, I wasn't able to. I only saw specific moments the army showed me, like her limping on her injured leg, and a picture of her from inside the shelter. Anywhere I was where it was shown, I would leave; it was too hard. I listened to the full video in a studio interview, but I couldn't bear to watch."

Who Is Daniela? Tell Us About Her.

"A girl with a very big heart, truly. I would often tell her, 'Stop being so good.' I can say I'm good, too, but less naive. You think you'll always be kind to the world and it'll be kind back, but that's not always true. You must know where to give, and I always tried to teach her that, but it was stronger than her. She always helped friends and even strangers. If someone on the street needed help, she couldn't just walk by and ignore it. She always spoke respectfully, even to her teachers, always giving people their due respect. She never talked back. Even when she was upset, she would speak nicely and respectfully.

"Besides that, she's always excelled at what she does. She's a perfectionist, has a developed aesthetic sense—all of which she got from my husband. I always told her, 'Not everything has to be perfect.' Throughout her school years, she excelled, even with high honors. She was very serious about getting good grades. She invested a lot in music, from 7th to 12th grade, completing her matriculation in it, which is very significant in her life. She plays piano, writes, and sings from a young age, and even studied at a conservatory for many years.

"Altogether, we're a very musical family. In my distant past, I used to be a singer, and my husband played piano at the conservatory for many years. Even now he's going back to it more, playing, which gives him some solace in these times. My younger daughter Noam, age 15, is in a music program; she plays piano and guitar."

After Daniela Was Captured, You Decided to Observe Shabbat. Why?

"My husband returned to religious observance three years ago. He began to feel some sort of internal emptiness he couldn't quite articulate. Roi's father, Daniela's partner's dad, suggested he put on tefillin every morning, saying his day felt off without it. My husband didn't understand it, but out of curiosity, he started wearing tefillin. He connected so much to it, and one thing led to another. He started a process and today he's religious, studies Talmud, and is very serious about his faith. After Daniela was abducted, even Roi's father returned to religious observance, so it's somewhat of a full circle.

"Incidentally, that's how I came to know about the Hidabroot channel, through him. Since then, our home gradually became more observant. I didn't become religious myself, nor did I keep Shabbat before. Initially, I'd still cook on Shabbat, even the meal for Kiddush, but then he asked if I could stop cooking on Shabbat, and I started doing so beforehand. When Daniela was captured, I took on observing Shabbat and family purity."

How Was It for You to Embrace Family Purity?

"At first, it was strange. It wasn't something I had connected with before, but over time, I've become more connected. In this entire period, we've been very active—on a spiritual level, I've done many challah separations and participated in Torah dedication ceremonies; and on a more basic level, meeting various people, the Prime Minister, ministers, and Knesset members. We were even part of a delegation abroad.

How Was It for You When Your Husband Returned to Faith but You Didn't?

"It wasn't simple; I didn't grow up in an Orthodox home. My mother always kept Shabbat, and we kept kosher at home, but my father didn't observe Shabbat. He was traditional, and I didn't keep Shabbat. That's how I grew up. Unfortunately, my father passed away, and from that point, my mother became stronger. My younger brother, who was living with them at the time, started his journey to return to religious observance. Today, he's Orthodox and lives in Kiryat Sefer. My mother is also now an Orthodox woman.

"So the world of religion and faith was near to me, but I always maintained a distance. Ran, before returning to faith, was completely against it. I was the one with a bit of tradition, trying to instill some of it in the house for the girls. When he began his process, it was gradual—reading all kinds of things, going to synagogue on Fridays. It became more and more, until he started observing Shabbat, wearing a kippah, and attending synagogue every day. Did it go smoothly? No, there were difficulties. More than the fear of what Shabbat would be like, I love to travel, and I feared it would limit me. But in the last eight months, traveling became less important to me, and even before that, I realized it wasn't that bad. Day-to-day, it didn't bother me much, and I somehow adjusted to the Shabbat restrictions. Now we both observe Shabbat.

"With our daughters, each went through her own process. Daniela was in the army, and even before she was often not home for Shabbat, so she felt the gaps between us less. Noam was anxious about the idea, but she gradually grew and became more accepting. She even sings 'Shalom Aleichem' with us," she laughs. "There's progress from her side in accepting this. Although she doesn't feel a inclination to move in that direction, the fact that she's accepting is already good."

Does the Fact That You've Become More Connected to Faith Help You Cope With This Period?

"Absolutely. There's no way Ran would have managed this if he were at the opposite end without any faith, that's clear to me. For me too, it gives a lot; I read Tehillim every day and talk to Him. It definitely strengthens us and helps us get through this more sanely."

"She Didn't Respond to Messages and Then I Realized": Orly Gilboa, Whose Daughter Was Taken to Gaza, Was Interviewed on Hani Lifshitz's Show "Journey Diary," Sharing Her Painful Experiences. To Watch the Interview, Click Here

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