Sagi Dekelchan's Captivity Songs of Hope

Songs from the Tunnel

In a sun-drenched corner of Israel, just two miles from Gaza, Sagi Dekelchan held a concert on a grass lawn, singing songs of hope alongside 3,000 concertgoers. He's not a professional musician or singer, but a hometown hero, a father, and a survivor who didn't know whether he or his family would live.

The Singer from the Grass

Dekelchan’s story begins on October 7, 2023, when he was shot and kidnapped from Niroz after a wave of terror rolled into the kibbutz. He found himself in Gaza's tunnels for 498 days, a place where the conditions were unspeakable. His family, too, was caught in the devastation, with more than 40 residents killed and 70 taken hostage. His wife, seven-month pregnant at the time, and his daughters were hiding in a safe room. Dekelchan heard gunshots, explosions, terror, and screams echoing through his house. Convinced it was game over, Dekelchan realized he needed to lie to himself to survive. He told himself that his family was alive, even though he believed they were dead. This internal lie became his coping mechanism.

The Songs that Kept Him Alive

On the same day in 2023, the kibbutz of Niroz faced a harsh reality. Once a thriving community, Niroz had a significant portion of its 400 residents killed or taken hostage. Dekelchan’s home, a place of childhood memories, became a battlefield. The last thing he heard, gunmen stormed his house, leaving him with a suffocating sense of despair. He buried himself in his liess and songs—some of them his daughter’s lullabies, imagining them as a mother singing to her children. These imaginary bedtime songs were his solace, a way to fight against the relentless darkness. As the days went on, Dekelchan’s imaginative lullabies became a part of his survival.

A Family Reunited

Songs kept him alive, but they also became an integral part of his recovery and eventual reunion with his family. After his release, Dekelchan recorded the songs he had composed in captivity from memory. He had no pencil or paper, yet the songs remained vivid in his mind, a testament to their importance in keeping him going. Dekelchan’s songs served not just as a reminder for him but also as an expression of the struggle and hope of the entire community. When his family finally saw him, they found not just a survivor, but a beacon of resilience. In captivity, he had written a song for his unnamed daughter, a girl he wasn't sure he would ever meet. On the concert stage at Niroz—the place where he grew up, had his first date, and where he fought—the grass lawn became the setting for his redemption.

Singing the Story of Survival

The concert at Niroz became a powerful testament to Dekelchan’s resilience and the strength of his community. The songs and the grass lawn were icons of hope and survival. As he introduced, “This is the only place where it’s true.” The concert was a culmination of Dekelchan’s journey from despair to hope, the songs of survival a beacon to all.

Closing Beat

The songs of survival Dekelchan composed became a vibrant thread of hope and resilience. Every note represented a struggle and a triumph, a reminder that even in the darkest corners of despair, hope can be found in the simplest expressions of human emotion.