Survivor of Oct. 7 Attack, Fiancé Of Slain Herzl Camp Alum, Tells Her Story at MN Hillel

Irene Shavit had spent years hearing about Herzl Camp – far from her home in Kfar Aza but close to the heart of her finance, Netta Epstein. 

Epstein, a former camper and ozo (counselor-in-training) at Herzl was murdered by Hamas on the morning of Oct. 7. For the past month, Shavit has been going to communities around the country to talk about how Epstein was killed and what the past 14 months have been like. Herzl and Minnesota Hillel co-sponsored Shavit’s visit to Hillel to talk to students and community members before Shabbat dinner on Friday, Dec. 6. 

Shavit walked the audience through Oct. 7, sharing screenshots of WhatsApp messages with hers and Epstein’s parents, as well as photos of their home in Kfar Aza and a timeline of that day, starting at 6:30 a.m. when the warning sirens first sounded.

“We’re used to rockets and used to alarms. We thought there would be a few and we’d go on with our day,” she said. “Then the kibbutz sent a text to lock doors and hide.”

This was perplexing to Shavit and Epstein. No one in the kibbutz locks their doors, she said. “If you needed sugar, you just walked into your neighbor’s house to get sugar.”

But when they heard gunshots and men yelling in Arabic, they knew this was not normal. 

The timeline of events in Netta Epstein and Irene Shavit's home in Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023. The photo in the slide was a selfie taken that morning. (Lev Gringauz/TC Jewfolk).

The timeline of events in Netta Epstein and Irene Shavit’s home in Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023. The photo in the slide was a selfie taken that morning. (Lev Gringauz/TC Jewfolk)

At 7:30 a.m., they heard from Epstein’s mom that his grandmother had been killed outside her home. Two hours later, they got another call that Epstein’s uncle Ophir Libstein, the mayor of the Sha’ar HaNegev region where Kfar Aza is, was killed. 

At 11:30 a.m., terrorists broke the windows of their home, where eventually, they opened the safe room door enough to throw a grenade into the small space, which was also the couple’s bedroom. A second grenade was tossed in and caused an injury to Shavit’s leg. 

Then a third grenade was tossed into the room.

“I tried to make myself as small as possible,” Shavit said. “And then I heard someone yell ‘grenade.’”

Epstein was shot as he threw himself onto the grenade to protect Shavit. She said he died at 11:36 a.m.

“I told his dad,” she said, showing their text exchange on the projector. “I won’t tell his mom that her oldest son is dead.” 

When she texted with  Ayelet Epstein, Netta’s mother, Shavit said Ayelet’s focus was to keep her safe. Shavit hid under their bed with her fiance’s body blocking her from view. At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, the IDF arrived to rescue her. 

In the months after the rescue, Shavit met the soldiers who saved her from her home.

“They told me I was the funniest rescue they had,” she said. She asked for a weapon to fight; they said no.

Shavit said 2,500 people came to Epstein’s funeral. 

“Netta believed in people,” she said. “He touched every heart that he passed. It’s why so many people came.”

His headstone reads: “He was murdered in his house protecting his loved one.”

Countering misinformation

Dar Halevy Feldman had worked at the University of San Diego Hillel until just before Oct. 7, 2023. When Hamas had started it’s attack on Israel that day, Feldman reached out to her successor and told her there were going to be issues on campus.

“I texted my replacement and said ‘Call me. You’re going to have trouble in a few hours,’” she said. “I remembered it from my time at Hillel in 2021 and I knew it was gonna be bad [on campus. I didn’t know how bad. Honestly, it exceeded my expectations.”

That led Feldman and Shoshana Rice to start the Faces of October Seventh, which brings survivors from Hamas’ attack on Israel to the United States to give their testimonies of that day to American audiences. So far more than 20 survivors have spoken in 300 communities – including on more than 100 college campuses. Feldman started making arrangements for speakers when she first returned to the U.S. after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 20, 2023, and a week later the first speakers started meeting American communities.

Screenshots (in Hebrew and translated into English) between Irene Shavit and her fiance's mother. (Lev Gringauz/TC Jewfolk).

Screenshots (in Hebrew and translated into English) between Irene Shavit and her fiance’s mother. (Lev Gringauz/TC Jewfolk)

“We’re trying to make sure everyone can hear their stories and nobody can deny what they went through,” Feldman said. “In a lot of ways, we felt the hug of American Jewry on Oct. 7, and the days to follow. And we know you guys are struggling now. So that’s our way as Israelis to help give back and show you that we are in this together. And it’s not just one way of you guys helping us.”

Netta Epstein’s story is personal for Feldman because of her connections with his family. Sha’ar HaNegev’s American sister city is San Diego, and she made connections with Libstein – Epstein’s uncle – from her time at USD Hillel.

“We realized what was going on social media,” Feldman said. “It was BS. We’re not going to let people control our narrative and say it didn’t happen when we were there.”

Feldman said there’s a careful screening process before survivors are brought to America.

“We have to make sure their English level is good enough for people to be able to comprehend what they’re saying and that they’re level-headed enough to tell their story,” Feldman said. “And will not be retraumatized in case we see protesters.

For Shavit, making these appearances across the country has been hard, but she knows the value of telling her – and Epstein’s – story over and over.

“I can meet so many people, and I can see how [it is] important for them that I am here,” she said. “I truly believe that Israel will be fine. Eventually, Israel will be fine. But the hate the young and all people here suffer is the worst. Like one day [someone] is your friend, and the next day is your enemy. And why? Because someone published something terrible about Israel, and now he’s not your friend anymore? I am proud to be a Jew and I’m proud to be Israeli. Everyone needs to be proud of being Jewish.

“This is why I do this. Everyone will fall in love with Netta eventually.”

Part of Shavit’s presentation was designed to do just that, starting from when they first met at a bar – and why she kept rebuffing him when he asked her out.

“At every bar, there is a weird one. Netta was the weird one,” she said. 

But after eventually saying yes, the two quickly fell in love. They moved his home in Kfar Aza six months later.

“When I moved in it was a man cave,” she said. “There was X-box and Sony. Socks and food everywhere. I made it beautiful.”

Another six months later, they were engaged. They were due to get married in April 2024. 

Part of why she tells his story every chance she can is the guilt she carries with her from that day.

“He did everything for me and I did nothing,” she said. “I chose to stay quiet and hide. I feel blame. I will be loved again. I will laugh and love every day. Otherwise, Netta will have died for nothing.

“Once Netta died, I need to feel him. If I’m speaking about him, if I’m spreading his goodness, it’s one more day Netta is alive. So I try to feel Netta as much as I can. And that’s the reason I’m working at Herzl Camp this summer because I want to feel Netta’s story. Netta is here, even though he’s dead.” 

Rebuilding eventually

Seventy residents of Kfar Aza – about 3 miles from Gaza – were killed on Oct. 7, and another 20 were kidnapped. Five still are being held hostage in Gaza.

Students at Minnesota Hillel listen to Irene Shavit's testimony of her surviving the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Kfar Aza. (Lev Gringauz/TC Jewfolk)

Students at Minnesota Hillel listen to Irene Shavit’s testimony of her surviving the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Kfar Aza. (Lev Gringauz/TC Jewfolk)

“We will try to rebuild [the kibbutz] only when the hostages will come back, because we won’t touch anything if they are not out yet. But now we build a temporary town and not far away, but far away.”

Feldman said that other kibbutzim have helped set up RV camps to give those displaced somewhere to live near their homes. 

“It’s fine, but it’s not your home,” she said.

Shavit is living with her parents – who help take care of Billy, the dog she and Epstein adopted. The dog was with Shavit’s parents on Oct. 7.

“I’m coming back to Kfar Aza. I know it. Because Netta loved Kfar Aza as much as he loved me. And you can see (from the photos) he really loved me,” Shavit said. “I will make Kfar Aza as good as it was because they won’t win. If we don’t come back they won. So I will come back.”

Shavit said that despite everything she went through on Oct. 7 – and since – she is choosing love over hate.

“Hate will destroy only me. If I hate Hamas, if I hate Gazans, it won’t affect them,” she said. “If I hate them, it only destroys my heart, so I’m choosing love and I choose to love them because I believe no one ever loved them. Even though they hate me, I will be okay in the end because I’m choosing love. I hope one day, they choose love too.”