Former Israeli hostages Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen wed in emotional ceremony

JTA – Two former Israeli hostages have wed, in the first marriage of hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. 

Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen were visiting Trufanov’s family on Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October when they were attacked and abducted to Gaza. Trufanov’s father was murdered. Cohen was freed during a temporary ceasefire after 55 days, while Trufanov was held for nearly 500 days. 

They married on Sunday in Israel, in a ceremony attended by multiple former hostages as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who posted a picture of himself under the chuppah, or wedding canopy, with Trufanov and Cohen. 

“We prayed for your return, we were moved to tears when you came back home, and this evening we were privileged to rejoice together with you and to bless you under the chuppah on your joyous day,” Herzog wrote. 

While other freed hostages have celebrated births and engagements, the wedding is the first for a former hostage. It comes just days after Israel marked the 1 000th day since 7 October and as the government’s handling of the hostage crisis continues to roil Israeli politics ahead of a looming election. Last week, Nitzan Alon, an Israeli army major general who was part of a small hostage negotiation team, said at a conference that more hostages could have been returned alive had the Israeli government made different decisions, strengthening a widespread belief within Israel. 

Alon, too, was present at Trufanov and Cohen’s wedding. 

After Trufanov stepped on a glass, the traditional signal for the execution of the marriage, Eyal Golan’s Am Yisrael Chai, an anthem of Jewish and Israeli solidarity during the Gaza war, began playing. 

Rom Braslavski, another hostage who was briefly held with Trufanov in Gaza, posted pictures of himself with his friend at the wedding, as well as a video of him and the newly married couple being hoisted to dance. 

“Today, we are together, not in Rafah, not stuffed in a trunk, but free ,and you are in a beautiful groom’s suit marrying Sapir. How much you talked about her, my brother,” he wrote on Instagram. “There is nothing happier for me than accompanying you on this day, and I hope both of you will bring into the world happy little children and that they won’t know evil. May they not know war, with G-d’s help.” 

Another wedding featuring a former hostage is scheduled for next month. Eliya Cohen, who was held for 505 days, marked his engagement to Ziv Abud in a party that took place last week. He wore a jacket that read “Bring them Home” when other grooms wore it during the hostage crisis. With all hostages out of Gaza since January, Cohen altered it to read “Dad, thank you”, a mantra that he said sustained him during his captivity. 

Cohen did not know that Abud had survived the attack on the Nova festival until after his release. While he was held hostage, she drew attention to his plight by setting a romantic table with an unfilled place on the boardwalk in Tel Aviv.