News & Events

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[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Disparate faces flash by, at work and school, before receding into a logo: Touro University.

Text: Touro Talks, Touro University. Healing After Captivity: Dr. Chezy Levy on Israel's Hostage Survivors. October 21, 2025. Touro Talks is sponsored by Robert and Arlene Rosenberg

A man wearing a blazer sits before a bookshelf.

[ALAN KADISH] Welcome to Torah Talks. This is Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University. I'm pleased to be here with you today to hear Dr. Hezi Levy speak about his experience in treating and taking care of hostages, who were released as a result of their initial capture by Hamas in the Israel-Hamas war. Dr. Levy is an experienced Israeli medical expert, who is also Director of the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

He spent much of his career dealing with trauma related to wartime. He's trained as a general surgeon. He's been the Director of the Israeli Health Ministry and also been the Surgeon General in the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli army. We'll hear from him about his experiences following the attack on October 7.

For those of you who are listening to the audio-only podcast, there's a short video and a slideshow that will accompany Dr. Levy's presentation. By watching on YouTube, you will be able to see the video and slides, in addition to hearing the podcast.

It's our pleasure to have Dr. Levy here today. Welcome, Dr. Levy.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] In a second video feed, a man in a suit and tie sits against a blank white wall.

[HEZI LEVY] Thank you for inviting me. And, as you said, my lecture speaks about the return of the hostages, which were captured October the 7th. There were a lot of people who were captured, including children, which were returned after about 50 days. My lecture will speak about the capture, first the adult and how they returned, part of them after 50 days, part of them in January '25. I'll show what happened, we see pictures of them, and then the physiologic and physical findings and the mental.

Then I'll turn to children, and I'll speak about the children who were captured and released. How is the preparedness to accept them? What are the symptoms or the physical implication? What is the mental? And then we see some optimistic pictures before-- what happened before about 10 days when the last live hostages came back.

All the part of the children is with cooperation and knowledge of the Schneider Hospital, which is the biggest children's hospital in Israel. And most of the children returned there and hospitalized there till they released. So the video itself shows a little about the morning of 7 October, the multiple casualties scenario, which was part of this awful day.

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[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Puzzle pieces shapes like a heart pulse between text: October 7, 2023, Barzilai Medical Center on the front line of southern Israel. Iron Swords War.

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[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Text appears in English and Hebrew: Simchat Torah, 7-10-23. Saturday morning, 7:50, War Room is functioning. 7:55, Arrival of casualities to the E.R.. 9:30, Secondary evacuation. 108 murdered, declaration of war, "Iron Swords."

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[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Text appears as rockets shoot into a pale blue sky: Israel is under attack.

At night, small lights flicker from missiles as they pass across the sky.

Several people guide a gurney toward a hospital. Inside, a doctor and several nurses operate a machine for a patient lying on a table.

[SPEAKER] Hundreds of missiles and rockets shook the city of Ashkelon and the Barzilai Medical Center in one day.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] An emergency room is crowded with doctors, nurses, and patients.

[SPEAKER] Dozens of casualties arrived at the hospital in a short time, severely injured, victims of anxiety and trauma.

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[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A Fox News Alert begins, with footage from Gaza, titled Attack on Israel.

[SPEAKER] We begin this hour with a FOX News Alert. Israel's Defense Ministry launching retaliatory airstrike attacks against suspected Hamas Islamist targets along the Gaza Strip.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Trey Yingst appears Live from Southern Israel at 3:01 P.M..

[SPEAKER] New numbers in just now, indicating that at least 40 Israelis are dead, more than 700 wounded, and dozens taken hostage into the Gaza Strip.

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[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Time lapse footage from noon shows one ambulance after another entering the east gate of the hospital.

At 1:00 PM, the ambulance entrance plaza to the Emergency Department is crowded with vans and trucks, lights flashing.

At 1:20 PM, the emergency room is crowded with dozens of people, many wearing scrubs.

In the ambulance bay, a group of people help unload a casualty onto a gurney.

A team of four, wearing safety vests, jog into the hospital, pushing the gurney with a casualty laying on top.

A doctor performs chest compressions in the trauma room.

A soldier pushes a gurney into the hospital. Foil covers the man's body. Text: a soldier who arrived evacuated with amputations of two limbs.

Still photos flash by of the crowds in the ambulance bay, unloading victims, and the doctors at work in the emergency room.

In a photo, a group in bright safety vests examine a clipboard, standing at the nurse's station.

Empty gurneys are arranged in a row in the ambulance bay, beside an armored vehicle.

A photo depicts an anxious crowd at the Families Information Center.

The press surrounds a woman sobbing in the ambulance bay. Text: Desperate families looking for their loved ones.

An ambulance is parked on an open concrete surface. Several people escort a gurney to a helicopter, which takes off. Text: Secondary evacuation after stabilizing the wounded.

Three people in safety vests escort a gurney out of a hallway. Another worker pushes an empty baby carrier. Text: Evacuation of the maternity ward. Recorded alarm.

Photos depict two men pushing a large incubator. Text: Evacuation of NICU for newborn and premature baby. Additional photos depict a nurse tending to a line of baby carriers in a hallway and a line of Israeli flags hanging from a nurses' station.

A slideshow begins. An overhead view of the landscape depicts a downtown area, with a dot labeling the hospital. In the distance, additional points label the Europe Asia Pipeline Co., and ICE. In the far distance, Gaza is labeled.

[HEZI LEVY] So this is a picture of the hospital in Ashkelon, Barzilai, which is part of the southern part of Ashkelon. And you see here, this is the hospital, which is not fortified. It was built in '61. So it's beautiful, but not fortified.

This is the urban- the southern urban area of Ashkelon. This is a strategic zone with petrol reservoirs, electricity production, desalination of water, and factories that can contain, also, products with ammonia.

And you see here, this is Gaza. So Gaza is about 10 to 12 kilometers-- the northern part of Gaza, 10 to 12 kilometers from the hospital. That's why this hospital is bombed-- I'm sorry. It jumps. But this is the part of the bombing from Gaza for about 18 years. And especially in Iron Swords again.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A paragraph of text describes the Barzilai Medical Center, with details including its 650 beds, and its 10 mile distance from Gaza.

[HEZI LEVY] It's a general hospital that serves 500,000 residents. It's general hospital, including all the things, all the services that provide. And October the 7th, starting at 7:00 AM, we started to prepare ourselves and transform our activity from regular time to emergency time according to long, long, long drills and training and methods and standards.

And within about 30 minutes, we started to get patients, casualties, which were evacuated to our hospital. And in the first day, we had 370 most seriously wounded and about 100 dead in the first day. This is an unique multi-casualty scenario. And I would say that no hospital in other places had this experience. Just we and Soroka hospital in Beersheba, which the evacuation from the southern part of Gaza went to them.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A photograph depicts a news conference. Masked soldiers with weapons flank three hostages in front of a wall with English and Israeli text: We're the flood; the war's next day."

[HEZI LEVY] Let's start with the returnees. This is a picture from a ceremony that has been in Gaza while releasing, for example, three hostages. This one is name is Eli Sharabi, which was kidnapped from Be'eri, near Gaza. By the way, his wife and his two daughters were murdered while he was kidnapped.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A photo depicts a gray-haired man wearing sunglasses, speaking into a microhpone.

[HEZI LEVY] This one is Ohad Ben Ami, also returned with him.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A comparison photo appears of the same man, smiling, with a fuller face.

[HEZI LEVY] And you can see him before kidnapping and when he returned.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A side- by-side comparison depicts two photos of a young bearded man, smiling in the photo on the left.

[HEZI LEVY] This is the third one. You can see him at the left before and in the right, after.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Two photos depict a full-faced man before, and the same man, gaunt and scruffy.

[HEZI LEVY] And this is Eli Sharabi, which was very full guy, you see. And here is when he returned after about 1 and 1/2 year.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Photos flash by of the hostages after they were rescued.

[HEZI LEVY] And these are the ceremonies that took place.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Two photos depict the hostages and a black-and-white photo of Holocaust victims. Text: A nation that does not learn from its past, its future is in danger and uncertainty.

[HEZI LEVY] And here said that-- it kind of remind us what happened in the Holocaust. And we have to remember, in order to have our future in the future.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Bulleted text details the return of the kidnapped home.

[HEZI LEVY] The events of the massacre and kidnapping are unacceptable in modern history, so we don't have enough experience in kidnapping and starvation. And here, things were written while retreating, while we monitoring, while we see what happened.

There is not enough knowledge and research about it. There are a lot of mental problems and physical problems that are not visible at first. So that's why you see that when accepted them, they were on their legs walking, hospitalized in big hospitals in the center of Israel and starting to have tests and examinations and lab tests. And then we started to see the real situation of them.

They came very hurt. There were liberation ceremonies amplify the psychological stress of them. And there were taught thought what to say while they were on the stage in the liberation ceremony. Of course, there was a great interest and great importance to Israel releasing them and having them back.

So after the Hamas, everything was planned and was planned very cautiously and sensitively, in order not to stress them more than how they are. So after the ceremony, they were transferred to the Red Cross and from there, to IDF forces. We built a special camp, like a home, near the border in Re'im. Re'im, for example, there are camp there, but this was near the place of the Nova dancing party, which a lot of the audience there were murdered or captured.

So after that, they came with the IDF to the IDF. Before they met anyone, they went under initial examination by Israeli physicians and then transferred to the camp near the fence.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Photos depict a crowd of hundreds surrounding three Red Cross cars.

[HEZI LEVY] So this is the cars of the Red Cross trying to take away in order to reach Re'im. And in these ambulances, all the returnees. A lot of people in Gaza sometimes threatening the people in the cars.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Additional bulleted text details the return of the kidnapped home.

[HEZI LEVY] Initial meeting was with physicians, social workers, and psychologists, and then starting to meet their families. Only the very, very narrow circle, like father, mother, wife. That's all there. Slowly, slowly. Very sensitive.

Then bathing, changing clothes, having empathy, hugging, a lot of crying, and prepare them to be flown by helicopters to the medical centers in the middle of Israel. The policy was to fly them to a large hospital in the center, but we prepared, also, two hospitals near the place in the south, Soroka Hospital and Barzilai Hospital, which prepared the same exactly like the three centers in the middle of Israel.

And this was for purpose of something happens. We didn't know exactly what is their situation, medical situation? And we prepared ourselves, the returnees, which are in a very serious emergency medical situation, which would be brought to the nearest hospital to treatment. No time to reach the center of Israel. So that's why Barzilai Hospital in the north part of Gaza and in the south part of Gaza. And we prepared this too, because we didn't know, sometimes, when and where they are going to be released. So that's why we prepared. And then we prepared, of course, the medical centers in the middle of Israel.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A photo with a Hebrew caption depicts a small crowd watching a helicopter land.

[HEZI LEVY] These are the helicopters. And this helicopter, for example, is coming to the landing plot in Sheba Hospital.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A photo flashes by of a smiling hostage, surrounded by soldiers in camo.

[HEZI LEVY] And we see them.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A photo depicts a piece of equipment in the center of a hospital room. A handmade poster on the wall has staff photos surrounded by hearts.

[HEZI LEVY] This is part of preparation of our hospital. And this is the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, which was, we took all the urgent children and put them in the ward itself-- in rooms in the ward-- pediatric ward. And we prepared this for treat the returnees if they need to.

Isolated. No entry to anybody. Only the relevant staff and the family.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A video begins. The room appears sterile and neat. Outside the room, a small staff walks the halls and sits at the nurse's station.

[HEZI LEVY] You see here, the preparations. It's only for returnee. And we prepared rooms for the family in order to put the family near and close.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Two diagrams detail principles for managing children and adolescents returning from captivity, from managing less strict protocols, through treatment by the same staff during entire stay, and recruiting support system after discharge. On the left, a timeline. On the right, a pie chart details the percentages of workers needed, like social workers, nurses, teachers, and psychologists.

[HEZI LEVY] The part of preparing the hospital, you see in the left, is, first of all, how to prepare age-specific area, age-specific intensive care if needed, age-specific activities. Allowing the stuff, only the relevant stuff, and point them to be in, because it's so interesting and important that everybody wanted to be inside. No. No way. Just the relevant staff.

And creating-- and we see it later-- creating all the surrounding like home-like in order-- and it's important, especially in the children, to bring them home, not to bring them to the hospital. So we had a lot of activities and [INAUDIBLE] thing in order to imitate in-home surrounding, very empathy-surrounding, warmth surrounding for the nearest family and for the returnee themselves.

And then establishing a support system for them where they are in the hospital, deciding when to discharge them, and then making a supporting system which is going to follow them in the days after discharge and also, till now.

Here we see the preparation of the staff. It's a multidisciplinary staff, which gain knowledge more and more and became expert in all the starvation and the darkness implication that they were in. It's a physical physician and it's psychologists, diet experts, social workers, pediatric physicians, heart health physicians, internal medicine physicians, and everybody is the most senior physicians and expert in their field.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Two photos depict a hospital room, filled with comfortable furniture and home decor. Text: Providing a sense of home.

[HEZI LEVYH] See the surrounding, providing sense of-- nobody could think that this is a hospitalization room for a patient. But all the rooms were like this. And for the family-- and the family and the returnee himself, when he's staying with the family, this is like a living room at the house. And of course, we gave them all the things like communication, kitchen, special food, and all the things and accepting friends and families more and more as days pass. And in order to bring them gradually to life again and the family again, to friends.

And most important, what to eat and when to eat. Somebody wants now pizza and they want it. Can we give him pizza? Someone was hamburger and fries. Can he get it now? He wants to-- we want to make for him everything in the world. But is it good after 1 and 1/2 year of starvation? We'll speak about it.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Additional bulleted text details the return of the kidnapped home.

[HEZI LEVY] The reception area in the emergency room of a special ward are carefully prepared, as I told you, while maintaining strict privacy. It was an enormous public interest. Media, friends, visitors, et cetera. So we manage delicately, privately, and gradually, meetings. Everything was according to the will of the returnee and the will of his family, not pressuring, and let him set the pace of recovery, of coming back to society.

And it was really very sensitive. Part of them since October the 7th were alone. No speaking, no social interaction in the caves, in the tunnels. Chains in the legs so they won't run away. I don't know where to run away, but not run away. So it was very, very sensitive. And gradually, step-by-step, you turn him back.

They were hospitalized in a sterile compound. No one enters. Not only because of mental implications, but also, we know and we saw that the immune system of them is so diminished. So we were afraid they're going to be get some sepsis or infections. So that's why it was a kind of sterile.

The meetings were very emotional. Those who sat at home, mostly all of Israel, and saw it in TV, stood in living rooms crying and crying. Even us, the adult, experienced people. So privacy, confidentially, and only near family.

Everything was coordinated and has been done by conservation and control of the Ministry of Health, which was responsible for all this project. And the second power was the army and security forces. Of course, as I said, it's a multi-professional event.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Bulleted text details medical treatment.

[HEZI LEVY] Immediate initial examinations to rule out medical condition that requires immediate intervention, documented and collecting forensic evidence. We took photos and documented precisely all the forensic examinations and effects that can help in understanding what happened to them.

Nutritional assessment was crucial and very important by nutrition experts. And what is the nutritional status at its implication and how to start feed them with no harm? We took range of a lot of tests for infectious diseases, immune system, biochemistry, and vitamins in order to see all the implications and shortage of things which are critical for recovery.

And of course, one of the most important things were psychological and psychiatric evaluation.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Bulleted text details the main medical problems observed among returnees.

[HEZI LEVY] Many medical problems we see and then we see it in children. Acute malnutrition, loss of about 30%, 40%, or 50% of body weight. Acute vitamin deficiency. Vitamin D for the skeleton, bones, vitamin B12. But all the consequences for the body and for the health, hormonal disorders, electrolyte disorders.

As I said, careful, gradual, and controlled nutrition. Personal menu. It cautioned against refitting syndrome, which might be very dangerous. And by the way, in the last release now in October, Israel asked the Red Cross to ask Hamas not to feed them abruptly. They wanted to refit them. So in the media, they can be seen less sick, less weak, and in good feeding position. But we know that it is very dangerous. That's why we ask them to ask Hamas, not to feed them abruptly.

There is lack of exposure to light. So the implications for the eyes and the skeleton were very serious. And we saw untreated infectious diseases.

And we spoke about the adults with chronic comorbidities which were not treated properly, like heart, lung, diabetes, blood pressure, brain diseases. And it was one of our concerns. There were severe injuries from the capturing in 7 October. So they were not treated well. And we had to take care-- and at least, but not last, several severe mental problems. Anxiety, post-trauma, depression, mourning for murdered relatives when they heard what happened to them, and they didn't know until they were told in the Israeli army camp, and difficulty in adapting and returning to life.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Bulleted text details instructions and preparation for discharge.

[HEZI LEVY] So I want to run to the key to the children. But mainly, it was about three to four days of hospitalization and gradually returning to feeding and family and friends, and then going out with accompanying nurses, psychological, and social worker that followed them to another place, which was much more free to start rehabilitation, included accessory that are required.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Bulleted text details the return of kidnapped children, according to Schneider Children's Medical Center.

[HEZI LEVY] Now, let's go to the children. Preparing for children returning from captivity is very challenging. Also, we don't know enough, and there's no enough literature to tell it. And all is based upon experience, which was gained, sometimes, online. And there are a lot of approaches which are required.

So where were 26 returnees to Schneider. Between them, 11 children, eight adolescents, and seven adults. So children and adolescents were the same problems and the same attitude. They were hospitalized in dedicated wards-- I showed you the wards-- with two pre-assigned rooms per family and equipment.

They got new clothes, new products, and multidisciplinary team was established along to the preparedness-- and I show you-- in order to accept them.

During admission to the unit, women and children from the same family unit were accommodated in the same place and in the same room immediately to give empathy and home feeling. All went through medical evaluation, which included formulated medical admission questionnaire, basic physical examination, blood tests, stool test, and urine test. All had psychological evaluation and social team assessment in order to define, what is the situation and what kind of treatment and mental treatment they need in the acute phase, and started to think about rehabilitation after.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A detailed list of clinical findings appears.

[HEZI LEVY] So the most common clinical findings upon return and go to that. Significant weight loss, psychological trauma, complications of poor hygiene, and complications of recent shrapnel injuries and injuries from the capture time in October the 7th. Microbiology tests were positive for multiple gastrointestinal pathogens. Serologic screening tests were positive for various infectious diseases.

What about gastrointestinal implications? Prolonged constipation was reported in 10 patients, diarrhea during captivity period, and infectious pathogens isolated in the patient's stool sample.

About nutritional status, uniformly very poor. Significant weight loss was recorded in 15 out of 26 individuals. As I told you, 30% to 40% of the body weight. Most hostages reported limited food supply based mainly on glucose-- I mean-- mainly of carbohydrates like pita, which is bread. Sometimes, one spoon of pasta. No water, enough. Most of the time, no meat, no proteins, nothing. Diet was rice and white bread, basically. That's all. When they got it.

Low quality of ingredients and minimal or no intake of vegetables, protein, and fat. So significant weight loss noted in all adult women, eight children aged 8 to 18. And this weight loss was about a lot of body weight.

What about hygiene? All 26 patients reported poor sanitation and hygiene conditions. So they were kept underground for most of the duration of captivity. And the majority of patients reported restricted access to running water, to, I would say, restroom, but most of the time, they dig holes and did all the things there with no water. Severe head lice infestation was apparent. And you have to be treated.

About dermatology, six patients presented with multiple insect bites and diffuse skin irritation. Trauma, out of the 26 patients, 14 individuals sustained major trauma from the day of capturing.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Additional text: One patient with several shrapnel with symptoms consisting fever, dyspnea and pleuritic pain, and chest CT revealed a recent fracture in the 7th rib and a large pleural effusion, adjacent to the shrapnel site. One patient suffered a superficial, through and through gunshot wound to the lower abdominal wall, with no apparent intra-abdominal damage.

[HEZI LEVY] And I won't enter to these details, but they were [INAUDIBLE]. And then, sometimes, they didn't or haven't been treated well. There were some testimonies of being treated even with no anesthesia.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Text details psychological trauma.

[HEZI LEVY] About psychological trauma, all patients were forcefully taken from their homes. Of 26 patients, 24 patients witnessed the murder or kidnapping of other family members. When he spoke about Eli Sharabi, how do you tell him when he just came to the camp, that his wife and two beloved daughters are not with him? He stand alone. His brother was murdered in the capturing.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Text: All patients were forcefully taken from their homes. Of 26 patients, 24 patients witnessed the murder/kidnap of other family members during the attack. All patients went through mental evaluation and received social and psychological support during their stay in the hospital. They all reported psychological terror, with different psychological warfare strategies including isolation, intimidation, food and water restriction and psychological abuse. On admission to the unit all young children (less than 7 years) demonstrated submissive behavioral pattern. Some suffered from repeated nightmares. In addition, children were trained to speak in low whispering voice and after their admission to our unit they gradually resumed normal volume of speech. The immense magnitude of psychological trauma of kidnapped and hostage victims cannot be properly assessed or treated in the immediate return phase.

[HEZI LEVY] I have to run. We don't have enough time. So they all reported psychological terror with different psychological welfare strategies, abuse. And this was and is yet, now, a big, big, big challenge to treat them psychologically.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Bulleted text details summary points related to the return of kidnapped children.

[ALAN KADISH] So if I want sum it up, there is preparing for children returning from captivity is very challenging, requires different approaches for children, adolescents, and adults, and a multidisciplinary team. Prepare for the returnees, a home-like environment, preliminary acclimation, and satisfaction from the hostages. Graduating empathy, slowly, slowly. And our experience could serve a lot of the world. Although I hope, they won't need it.

Some pictures.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Five photos appear of returned hostages with family members. In two photos, a loved one holds a handwritten sign.

[HEZI LEVY] This is the returns in January. The first meeting with families or in the helicopter in the way to the hospital.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] In news footage, a crowd of tens of thousands await the released hostages. The two photos are captioned with Hebrew text.

[HEZI LEVY] Here is the square that we called it the Kidnap Square in Tel Aviv, where all the demonstrations took place two years. And now is the day when our leaders signed the peace treaty. And this is the joy of the people. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people gathered there.

And what is written here in Hebrew, I'll show you. It was a dream. It written here. The 20 live kidnap are here in Israel. President

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Two photos depict President Trump in a ceremonial speech in the Israeli Knesset.

[HEZI LEVY] Trump came to Israel and had a speaking with the Knesset, the government, and the parliament members of Israel.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Three photos depict helicopters on a pad, a hostage smiling, sitting beside an older man, and a crowd celebrating in a public square.

[HEZI LEVY] After two years, there are no live hostages in Gaza. It was a dream for us.

This is pictures on the way to the hospital. We are home, and all 20 released hostages have arrived to Israel.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] In four photos, hostages smile, hugging loved ones, older and younger.

[HEZI LEVY] There is nothing like a mother's love. And one of the hostages give a big hug to his mother, which fought two years for his return. These are the wife and the father, 80 year age, of the [INAUDIBLE] families. And a father give hug to his kid, which was two years younger when he left him.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] A photo of a smiling adolescent is captioned with text; Return of humanity, return of hope; God bless Israel, God Bless America.

[HEZI LEVY] So maybe it's return of humanity. Maybe it's return of hope. God bless Israel, God bless America,

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] In a photo, a person shows an arm tattoo, depicting Israel, laying on a towel with a heart created from puzzle-pieces.

[HEZI LEVY] and let's hope we will continue to build a better future together with no war, no hostages.

[ALAN KADISH] Thank you very much, Dr. Levy. That was a fantastic presentation of an extremely unique experience, which, as you say, we hope will not reach again.

Thank you to our Touro Talks sponsors, Robert and Arlene Rosenberg, and to our audience for joining the Touro Talks conversation.

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Have a good day.

[AUDIO DESCRIPTION] Text: Touro Talks, Touro University. Touro dot edu slash Touro talks.

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