Billboards line Israel’s Route 461 outside Ben-Gurion Airport, plastered with the infectious smile and twinkling eyes of Almog Meir Jan, 21, who lives with his mother, Orit Meir, in the adjacent community of Or Yehuda. Dressed in a dark suit and open-collared shirt, one might mistake Almog’s billboards as an advertisement for an upcoming reality TV series or a public figure. But for the residents of Or Yehuda and millions of Israelis who read the text beneath the photo of beaming, fun-loving young man, it is the grim reality of someone who has his whole life ahead of him, abducted by Hamas terrorists for over three months.
“Almog is a kid with so much love for life. He’s the kind of guy who’s always cool, relaxed; so many friends from all over the place. Almog can go to any party and just be friends with everyone. He always keeps our door open for friends to come in and out,” says Orit about her son, the center of her universe.
Even in his prolonged absence since the Supernova festival on that harrowing morning of October 7, Orit keeps his spirit alive, opening her home to Almog’s plethora of friends, who share a similar fun-loving outlook on life.
Even throughout this unfathomable and grave reality, exacerbated as the days turned into weeks, Orit and her brother Aviram feel Almog’s energy, aided by his friends who have been Orit’s greatest source of strength throughout this ordeal.
“We cry, but more so, we also laugh as they share videos of Almog. He is the glue that holds his friends together,” Orit says, chuckling slightly as she focuses on the positive energy that her son brings to everyone who knows him. “Almog would often film pranks he would pull on his friends, so we’ll watch these videos and just laugh.”
Orit admits that as a child, Almog was quite mischievous but grew up to become a doting son, brother, uncle, and grandson, with a love for life that he spread to everyone around him.
“We love to watch movies together, put on music, dance, and just goof off and make each other laugh,” Orit says, pausing as she tries to explain the intangible laughter and energy that Almog brings into the home that the two share together, something that she may have taken for granted as the void left in Almog’s absence grows more evident with each passing day.
His love of music is infectious as Orit shows a video that Almog’s friends sent her of her son singing in the car, bursting with energy and wearing his iconic smile, so wide it makes his eyes almost close. “He just lights up everything around him. He has such a presence,” Orit says, a theme among the missing or abducted Israelis as their dimmed lights have left a looming shadow over the nation.
Sharing his love with those close to him, Almog has a special affinity for his grandparents – far beyond the typical love of a grandson – who live not far from Almog and his mother.
“Almog’s grandfather recently underwent surgery and needs help bathing. Orit and my daughters cannot really help him with this,” Almog’s uncle Aviram explains.
“It is not so easy for me to have to bathe my own father, and even more so for his grandson. But Almog does it with so much love, not [begrudgingly] or seeing it as a chore.” Aviram adds that the first few days after his surgery fell on Yom Kippur, and he also needed help at night to use the restroom. Almog would go to sleep there and help out of respect for his grandfather, with an understanding that this is what families do.
In recent years, Orit has been especially surprised by Almog’s culinary prowess, adding his own special touch to his mother’s meals – some spice or a little heat – and always experimenting with new recipes to treat his mother to a special home-cooked meal. Of course, for Orit and Aviram, the missing ingredient is not limited to the kitchen but is symbolic of the added flavor that Almog brings to their lives.
October 7
Almog had been anxiously anticipating the Supernova music festival for months, the convergence of everything he loves in life – music, friends, and good times. Four of the headlining DJs were some of Almog’s favorites, and he was most excited about DJ Swarup’s sunrise set. But just as his favorite act was about to take the stage, Hamas terrorists unleashed hell on Earth, the massacre that would become the single most tragic day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.
“At 7:45 a.m., Almog called me and said, ‘Ima, turn on the television. The army has shut down the party. There are rockets from all directions, and we are being shot at. I don’t know what’s going on, but I will try to call you every half an hour. Ima, I love you.”
Orit recalls with the same clarity that mirrors hundreds of other mothers, that dreadful morning, noting that her son always refers to her as Mamo, “For me, when I heard him say ‘Ima,’ I knew that he thought he would never see me again. This wasn’t my Almog.”
That was the last time Orit heard from her son. Fighting back tears and trying to regain the composure she had previously maintained, Orit explains the confusion throughout the country and the inability to comprehend the enormity of the event that would trigger a turning point for Israelis and Jews around the world.
After Almog’s call to Orit, his sister immediately shared his photo on social media, grasping for any sign that he was still alive. Around 12 p.m., a friend of Almog’s called Orit, crying that she had seen a video of Almog with four other hostages. Upon seeing the clips published by Hamas, Orit immediately recognized her only son.
“At that moment, I felt a hole in the pit of my stomach and began screaming. That’s the moment you realize that your entire life will be changed forever.”
Since his abduction on October 7, Orit and Aviram’s lives have changed. For several days they sat in pain, with friends and family at a loss for words or the ability to console them, before Orit asked some of Almog’s friends to come visit her.
“We need to put together a group because I need you here with me. Now once or twice a week his friends come here, and he has so many friends, they’ve become my family,” Orit says tearfully. “Tomer, one of Almog’s best friends, was killed in the massacre, so we went to the funeral, where I met even more of Almog’s friends that I had never met, who now come to see me every week. We laugh, they tell me stories, and we also goof around, just like with Almog.”
It is that energy that keeps Orit and Aviram going, with his friends even going so far as to put together a video for Almog when he comes home. For Aviram especially, the support network established for the families of the hostages has been a guiding light for navigating an ordeal that no family should ever have to endure.
“Little by little, we understood the scope of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. From there, they connected us to Gadi Eisenkot and Benny Gantz, President [Isaac] Herzog, foreign ministries. From there we understood that the [forum] was the place for us,” Aviram explains, displaying a profound appreciation for the support network that has given him and his sister the strength to persevere each day. For Orit and Aviram, the forum has given them a voice, allowed them to feel that they are not alone, and to have access to a network of dedicated volunteers, decision-makers, and information as they search for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Despite the earth-shattering tribulations that Israel has been enduring since October 7, Orit and Aviram remain hopeful and see the positivity of the strength of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Through the outpouring of support from Israelis from all sectors and walks of life, we are seeing unprecedented strength that will prevail even amid one of Israel’s most tragic events. It is this understanding that keeps Orit and Aviram hopeful that Almog will soon be returned to them and bring his positive energy and light back to the world.