Agam Berger, the Hostage Who Kept the Sabbath

Thus goes a familiar story in the history of the Jewish people: A Jew, kidnapped from the Holy Land and taken to enemy territory, refuses to eat whatever nonkosher food is provided to him. So Scripture informs us of Daniel, who found himself in the court of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. Daniel refused to “defile” himself with the forbidden food of the king and requested that he be allowed to subsist on seeds.

Hundreds of years after the destruction of Jerusalem, a similar scene would repeat itself. Josephus informs us of Jerusalem priests taken captive to Rome during the reign of the Emperor Nero. There, in that thoroughly pagan city, the Jews who were meant to minister in the Temple “were not unmindful of piety towards God, even under their afflictions, but supported themselves with figs and nuts.”

These tales aren’t merely ancient history. As Agam Berger, 20, was freed from Hamas’s clutches in Gaza last week, fellow hostages who had made it home before her revealed astounding details about her time in captivity. According to Israeli news reports, Ms. Berger’s parents were informed that she had refrained from engaging in any activities on Saturday that would violate the Sabbath. Thus when “Hamas terrorists ordered Agam to cook food . . . she steadfastly refused.” Another hostage, Liri Albag, 20, reportedly described how Ms. Berger refrained from eating nonkosher meat throughout her time in captivity, which doubtless involved enormous sacrifice.