Updated as of 10:38 p.m. on Nov. 19 to include video.
Rami Davidian, once a farmer, saved 750 people from the Hamas attack Oct. 7, 2023, at the Nova Music Festival in Israel. Elon Chabad, in collaboration with Elon Hillel and Elon Jewish Life, invited Davidian to speak at Elon University on Nov. 18 in Whitley Auditorium.
Davidian stopped at Elon as part of his U.S. speaking tour. Joining Davidian was Millet Ben Haim, a survivor of the Oct. 7 attacks, who translated Davidian’s story from Hebrew to English. On the Oct. 7 attack at the music festival, Davidian helped Ben Haim escape from Hamas militants.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants unleashed a surprise attack in Israel, Gaza and other parts of the Middle East, killing over 1,000 people and kidnapping hundreds of other Israeli citizens.
Davidian spoke about his many encounters with Hamas militants. He told the crowd that prior to Oct. 7, 2023, the day had held extreme significance to him for a different reason — his father died on that date.
On that day, while on the way to the synagogue to commemorate the loss of his father 46 years ago, there was a surge of attacks on Israeli barracks. Davidian received a call from a friend asking for his help in saving a young man. Davidian’s wife urged him not to go, saying that he might be killed in the process.
Davidian promised his wife that this rescue would only take a few minutes, when in reality it took several hours. Before finally getting to the music festival on his search for the young man, he passed multiple dead bodies — some stacked in trucks along the road.
Davidian explained that upon arriving at the festival, hundreds of young people were screaming in panic and more bodies littered the ground as he navigated further into festival grounds. Davidian said he tried to gather the injured together — telling them everything would be alright.
“They started to operate how to get them all back,” Ben Haim translated. “So later, one goes to his own home to be taken care of by his wife and kids and the rest go to a community center.”
As people continued to evacuate, Davidian continued searching for the young man he promised to find. Looking for him in a field, Davidian found him in a bush along with 14 other friends. Davidian helped to fit 15 people in his private car — that typically fits five — before ushering them to safety.
One of the young people asked Davidian to also rescue a friend who was left behind. Agreeing, Davidian told the young person to send their friend his contact information. Within a few minutes, he said he had received over 4,000 messages from many different people — asking him to help rescue their family and friends as well.
In order to carry out this mission, Davidian said he had to make lots of difficult decisions.
“First, he had to pretend to be a Palestinian,” Ben Haim translated. “So he is smashing cars and pretending to steal things. … That way, he was able to evacuate more people from within the terrorists.”
Davidian presented a slideshow that included pictures and videos of the first-hand accounts from these attacks. All in Hebrew, Davidian shared the messages he received from those he saved and their thanks to him with the crowd. Included in this presentation was Ben Haim’s experience as an attendee of the music festival.
With two videos, Ben Haim showed her and her friends dancing at the Nova Festival just minutes before a second video showed the panic and distress festival-goers faced from the attacks.
Ben Haim emotionally told the crowd that she convinced her friends to let her drive the car in order to escape. While they were on the main road, they saw a truck full of militants. After the car in front of them was shot, Ben Haim made a split-second decision to make a U-turn into the opposite direction.
After running into a field and hiding, Ben Haim explained that this feeling was like being chased in a bad dream — where she tried to run faster but couldn’t.
“At that moment, I just started to talk to myself,” Ben Haim said. “I told myself that I'm probably going to get killed, and it's bad, but I don't have control over that. And the only thing that I have control over is myself.”
While hiding, Ben Haim contacted as many people as she could and desperately posted on social media looking for help. After taking to social media, Ben Haim was given Davidian’s contact information from a complete stranger.
“He assured us that he will take care of us,” Ben Haim said. “He's looking for us.”
After a while, Ben Haim said she heard a car arrive and she then knew that someone had come to help save her.
Rami Davidian, Oct. 7, 2023 survivor and hero, poses for a group photo with attendees on Nov. 18 in Whitley Auditorium.
After hearing their story, those in the audience were left with a heavy silence.
Chabad Community Affiliate Rabbi Mendy Minkowitz translated for Davidian during an interview with Elon News Network. Davidian said continuing to share his story has turned into a positive experience, despite being painful.
“He says his therapist actually advises him that it's good for him to keep on sharing it, because every time he shares it, it's like a cleansing process that gets it out of his system,” Minkowitz translated. “It's part of the healing process.”
Having been touched by Davidian’s story and acts of heroism, junior Luke Silpe said listening to his story was very hard.
“I came to hear him speak today to get a perspective of someone that actually was there, and someone who actually did something impactful on a day like Oct. 7,” Silpe said.