HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The events of Oct. 7 will forever be burned in the memory of Omer Shem Tov, who was taken hostage by Hamas that day.

At just 20 years old, he was ripped from his life and thrown into his worst nightmare.

Inside a packed ballroom at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood on Sunday, Shem Tov stood before hundreds who attended an event by Jewish National Fund USA and told his story.

“I see two terrorists heading to the vehicle, with their riffles pointing at us, and he starts beating me while I’m in the ground,” he said. “He spits on me he ties my hands behind my back. I saw their joy on their faces and I was shocked. They were so happy to know that Jews were murdered, that women were raped, that kids were slaughtered.”

All sorts of emotions filled the room as he described his ordeal.

“They planted bombs around the house and as soon as soldiers come in, I’m going to be the one that’s going to bomb the house, that what they told me,” he said. “I told them I’m not going to do it. They told me, ‘okay, we are going to shoot you.’ I told them go ahead, shoot me.”

In that moment, faced with death, he says his thoughts turned to home, to his family and to god.

“I told myself and God, Why me? Why me? Why me?” he said. “I didn’t steal. I’m not a thief. I didn’t murder. Why me?”

But despite all the pain and isolation, Shem Tov said his faith kept him going.

“Day after day, from small to great, I saw miracles, and at that time of captivity my faith in God became a lot stronger,” he said.

Shem Tov was paraded in the most humiliating way in Gaza just before his release.

Now, he says he carries those 505 days with him, not as a burden, but as a mission.

“There are still broken families, for me I cannot live with that feeling that I came back, my family became whole again, and their families did not,” he said. “During the time of captivity, I gained so much light from God that I feel I have to share it, and I have to help people understand.”

Shem Tov said he will spend the next month in the United States sharing his story with hundreds of people. He said for him, that’s part of his recovery and healing process.

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