By: Chanie Kozliner

For 738 days, the world stopped for Avi Ohana.
As his son, Yosef Chaim Ohana remained in captivity, Avi lived in a state of agony, unable to eat, sleep or find a moment of peace. Today, that nightmare has turned into a powerful testimony of hashgacha pratis, emunah, and the steadfast connection to the Rebbe that carried them through the darkness.

During the grueling two years his son was held by the enemy, Avi spent his days immersed in prayer.

A month after Yosef Chaim was captured, Avi went to pray by the Rebbe.
He spent 23 days praying and crying and pleading to the Rebbe.
He said to the Rebbe
“Yosef Chaim is not my son. He is your son. I am giving him over to you, in your hands. He is not in the hands of Hamas, he is in the hands of the Rebbe.”
He cried rivers of tears in 770, crying on the Rebbe’s bima for days, begging for Yosef Chaim to return home.

He made a vow that if Yosef Chaim returns home, he would bring him to the Rebbe.

Following his miraculous release, Avi returned with Yosef Chaim as promised.
He planned to thank the Rebbe in every place that he shared his promise.

Yosef Chaim was accompanied by his close friend, Daniel Sharabi, a hero and survivor of the Nova festival. Daniel and his brother fended off terrorists for hours, provided emergency medical care, and saved the lives of dozens of civilians while navigating unimaginable trauma.

The night before his planned visit to the Ohel, Avi had a vivid dream. He saw the Rebbe surrounded by hundreds of Chassidim. On the bima lay an open Torah. After calling up two people for an aliyah, the Rebbe turned directly to Avi and asked, “Where is your son, Yosef Chaim?”Please bring him to get an aliya before he comes to me.”

Avi searched frantically through the sea of people until he finally spotted his son standing right beside the Rebbe. Then he woke up.

Avi arrived at the Ohel on a Thursday, a day when the Torah is read. Incredibly, Yosef Chaim was called up for the third aliyah, the exact sequence of events that had played out in his father’s dream.

At the Ohel Avi said:
“I want you to know that the Rebbe knows exactly each and every person who comes to him. For two years I couldn’t eat or sleep. I couldn’t do a thing. From our perspective, the whole world stopped. I disconnected from the world. My son was with the enemy. Truthfully, looking back I don’t know how I was able to survive. The only thing that helped me survive was davening here and the spiritual powers and strong emunah that we got from here. I felt that the Rebbe was in front of me the entire time. Rabosai, I wasn’t imagining it. It was very real. The truth is I felt the energy and presence of the Rebbe in front of me, step by step, wherever I went during the entire two years.This gave me the strength and now baruch Hashem we had the zechus to come to thank the Rebbe for the many miracles that Hashem performed, for the Rabi Hagadol that we have, and to thank all those who prayed for Yosef Chaim. I look at my son, Yosef Chaim and tell him, you are nes krias yam suf.

When I first came here, I stayed at the Ohel for 23 days and begged and cried day and night for Yosef Chaim to return and now I have the zechus to come and give thanks. This place is Har Sinai, Kodesh Kedoshim.

If the Rebbe would not have turned the heavens upside down Yosef Chaim would not be here with us.”

They thanked the Rebbe, recited an emotional Nishmas and recounted Avi’s Rebbe dollar story.

A few days after his return from New York, he was very down. He remembered the Rebbe dollar that he kept in his wallet. In total, he had received 19 dollars and had given them away to family and friends.

Holding the remaining dollar he asked the Rebbe to give him a sign that Yosef Chaim was still alive. On it was written yud ches Tishrei– the initials of Yosef Chaim. Yosef Chaim chai!
Yosef chaim is alive.

He then ran to get his English calendar to check the corresponding date. The English date that he received the dollar was October 7.

The Rebbe blessed him on that date with bracha and hatzlacha. This gave him the strength and faith to continue to survive the ensuing chaotic days.

During their visit to Crown Heights, father and son were fascinated by the WLCC room. Mendel Aizenbach showed them the list of people from their hometown of Kiryat Malachi, many of whom they recognized, having participated in the broadcasts.

The next stop was a special visit to the Rebbe’s home, which closed a powerful circle. At the beginning of Yosef Chaim’s captivity, Avi had placed tehillim cards with Yosef’s photo on the shtender in the Rebbe’s home. He brought Yosef Chaim to the shtender and showed him that the cards had remained there throughout his captivity until this moment.

They went to the Rebbe’s room in 770 to share heartfelt appreciation reciting Tehillim.

On 12 Tamuz, the day celebrating the Frierdike Rebbe’s liberation from captivity, Yosef Chaim addressed a packed crowd at 770. The room was silent as he recounted how he maintained his faith throughout harrowing captivity.

“I was in the bushes with nine others when they opened fire,” Yosef Chaim recalled. “We held hands and said Shema Yisroel with our eyes closed. I was in the middle of the group and I was the only one to survive. That was the first miracle. I realized that if I wanted to comprehend my shocking reality, that I was alive against all odds, I had to believe in hashgacha pratis.”

“Once I told the creator of the world that it was Divine providence keeping me alive, not coincidence, I began to see open miracles.”

Inspired by their journey, Avi and Yosef Chaim are now dedicated to sharing their story of perseverance and faith with communities worldwide. Their mission is to publicize the miracles they witnessed and to strengthen the emunah and bitachon of others facing their own challenges.

For those interested in hosting Avi and Yosef Chaim to share their message of faith and perseverance, please contact:
Chanie Kozliner
917-601-1135