How Shabbat Saved My Life: A Night to Remember

When news reached Stav Kahlon, a 22-year-old from Herzliya, about the tragic events at the Nova party, she was deeply shaken. "I had many friends there, and I worried terribly about their fate," she recalls in an interview with Hidabroot. "But I couldn't help but think that I could have been there too at that moment."

Kahlon has not shared her story until now. In her first interview, she recounts the decision that she believes saved her life.

"For half a year, including during the Nova party, I worked as an organizer welcoming party participants," she explains. "Before the awful attack on Simchat Torah, I was planning to travel to Mexico, and a close friend suggested I work as an organizer to fund the planned trip. I trusted her completely and decided to accept her offer."

Thus, Kahlon began working in the field, but she had one condition for any employer who approached her: "I made it clear that I did not wish to work on Shabbat, and even when attempts were made to convince me otherwise, I promptly clarified that it was a principle I would not compromise on. Thankfully, my employers understood and allowed me to take Shabbat off."

"I did not want to work on Shabbat," Kahlon adds. "I understood that there is no blessing in money earned on Shabbat."

However, at a certain point, her refusal was put to a significant test. "This happened about a year ago. I was supposed to attend a party as a bartender in the Negev. Only after confirming my attendance did I discover that the party was taking place on Shabbat. It was a tough challenge," Kahlon admits. "Friends pressed me, work requested I come, and people around me urged, "Just this once!" But I stood firm. I don't know where I found the strength to resist the pressure and insistence, but I announced to everyone that I wasn't coming, that it wasn't going to happen. It was so clear to me that I didn't even feel like going. I thought about the fact that it was both Shabbat and a holiday, so of course I wouldn't attend."

Kahlon remembers the farewell party she held with some friends on the Friday before their trip to Nova. At the end of the party, moments before leaving for Nova, a close friend asked her one last time, "Are you sure you don't want to come? Just come for fun, not to work," she offered. But Kahlon remained steadfast in honoring Shabbat.

"The Most Difficult Experience of My Life"

At 06:29 am on Simchat Torah, the first alarm pierced the skies of the Nova festivity near Kibbutz Re'im in the Negev. The warning time in this area is only 15 seconds. Attendees believed it was an isolated incident, but then came another alarm, and more followed. As we know, motorcycles and white jeeps with Hamas terrorists also arrived.

"I live in Herzliya," says Kahlon. "On Simchat Torah night, I didn't sleep, and soon in the morning, alarms shook the city. We didn't understand what was happening. I asked my father what had occurred, and he told me about the severe events unfolding in the South. Meanwhile, I was receiving phone calls from friends, and I understood something terrible was happening.

"Later, I called Elikim Liebman and my friend who invited me to the party with her. Neither answered. Only later would I understand that they were killed in the attack. May they rest in peace."

Did you immediately discover they had been killed?

"Elikim was initially considered missing, as was my friend. I couldn't believe they were truly gone. My friend's body was found a week later. She was a joyful girl with a promising future, planning to accomplish so much in the years ahead. It's so painful that she won't be able to do what she wanted. Her bright personality hasn't left my memory. It's incredibly difficult to lose her. In contrast, for Elikim, we still hoped he would return, until at some point, I received the heartbreaking news about him too. I later went to comfort the wonderful Liebman family. I've never gone through an experience as difficult as this."

Do you think about what could have happened if you had gone to the party?

"I think about it quite a bit," Kahlon admits. "I could have been there if I hadn't been so firm in my refusal to go. It's a chilling thought, and there's a lot of mixed feelings surrounding the event, as I lost dear friends. I even had quite a bit of guilt. I thought that maybe I should have convinced them not to go either. I remember well the arguments with one of the workers I knew well who was killed at Nova. I told him it's not good to work on Shabbat. I'm from a secular home, and he came from a more traditional one. Afterward, I thought that maybe I could have convinced him, as well as others, not to go there and maybe they would have been saved. But it's a decree from above that we cannot explain."

"Personally, I'm sure that my decision not to work on Shabbat saved my life. In fact, something changed in me after Simchat Torah: I grew much closer to Hashem. My faith strengthened, and it bolstered me mentally in an extraordinary way, which I really needed due to the loss I experienced. But not only did this event strengthen me, it also inspired a good atheist friend who, despite my previous unsuccesful attempts to stop her from working on Shabbat, chose to do so after learning that I was spared because I refused to go to that party. So you might even call her a 'former atheist'," she says with a smile.

Any message to leave us with?

"I think that refraining from work on Shabbat is very important, not only spiritually but also for one's inner peace. Taking a break and not working one day a week is a purifying moment that ultimately also gives strength for the week to come."

And as it is often said: "More than the Jewish people have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jewish people."