“Derech emunah bacharti” is the pasuk in Tehillim (119:30) that gained universal appeal through Merav Berger’s efforts to free her daughter. Early on, Merav chose these words as both her battle cry and her personal directive. She had this slogan featured on T-shirts and emblazoned on banners that accompanied her in her campaign for Agam’s release. “She used these words to ask for increased Shabbos observance, tefillah, and achdus as merits for Agam’s return,” Riki explains, “and they became so integrated into the Bergers’ message, that when Agam was released, the pasuk was plastered on the hospital doors that received her.”

The story starts with a birthday gift. Agam is a twin — her twin sister is named Li’Yam — and for their 19th birthday Merav bought each a beautifully illustrated diary. The diary was a special project of an artist named Michal Mishani.

Michal is a member of Ayelet Hashachar’s chavrusa project, which pairs nonobservant women with chareidi women in an effort to foster connection and friendship between the two demographics. Michal, who is the nonobservant half of her pair, began learning Torah concepts that really touched her. She’s a graphic designer and an artist, and to process and internalize these Torah ideas, she created decorative stickers featuring pesukim from Torah and the words of chachamim and gedolim. She opened an Instagram page featuring her stickers, and eventually decided to combine her creations and create a beautifully illustrated diary filled with pesukim and quotes that she found meaningful. She also included stickers with individual quotes on them. Michal called her creation “B’rachvei Shamayim — Across the Sky.”

This was the diary that Merav chose as a birthday present. “Michal remembers when Merav bought the diaries for Agam and her twin,” Riki says. “It was after she’d lost her mother, and Michal remembers how Merav cried over her loss.”

Agam managed to write only one entry in the diary before she was abducted, but one of the stickers in particular spoke to her. She chose it as her phone’s lock screen and for her online status. It was “derech emunah bacharti.” I have chosen a path of faith.

From there, Merav adopted “derech emunah bacharti” as her rallying cry, a clarion call to Am Yisrael for achdus and kiyum mitzvos on Agam’s behalf.

“In fact, it became the song on one of the tefillah trips we took,” Riki remembers.

One of the initiatives of Ayelet Hashachar’s “Ohel Tefillah” is a monthly Erev Rosh Chodesh trip to kivrei tzaddikim in Israel and abroad. “We were in Poland and had just finished davening at one of the kevarim. Everyone was on the bus when suddenly Merav starts singing “derech emunah bacharti” to this catchy tune, and suddenly the whole bus joined in! The energy was incredible, everyone was singing together, really working through the message of this pasuk,” Riki recalls.

“It became the song that characterized the trip.”

When Riki connected the dots between Michal Mishani’s diary and Merav Berger’s slogan, she insisted the two meet. “That was really special,” Riki shares. “And for the seudas hoda’ah after Agam returned, they gave out the B’rachvei Shamayim diary to everyone.”

Across the border, in Gaza’s hellish tunnels, Agam had adopted the same pasuk as her guide and mantra. Hostages released in the November 2023 deal told the Bergers that Agam was keeping Shabbos and reciting brachos; over the next 14 months of her ordeal, Agam kept up that same conviction and mesirus nefesh. She refused to eat nonkosher meat for the duration of her captivity; she and the other tatzpaniot (lookouts) held with her avoided eating bread on Pesach, and tried to fast on Yom Kippur.

Agam was originally slated for release on Shabbos, along with the four other female lookouts captured with her. In anticipation of her return, Merav went on public record, filming a video begging that people refrain from any unnecessary chillul Shabbos in conjunction with Agam’s release. “It looks like our girls will come out on Shabbos. It’s not by mistake that our enemies are doing this,” she says. She clarified that the family had been told by rabbanim to meet Agam if she was freed on Shabbos, and how to do so with minimal chillul Shabbos, but then added: “To everyone who has been embracing us and accompanying us on this journey, we ask you, please don’t break Shabbos. Don’t take pictures, wait until after Shabbos — we will have plenty of time to take pictures and videos.”

That Thursday, two days before the anticipated return, Merav participated in a hafrashas challah at the Ohel Tefillah. She extended a general invitation to the event, her last public appearance preceding Agam’s release. As one of the prominent personalities on the hostage scene, Merav’s hafrashas challah attracted significant media coverage. In retrospect, perhaps this was a mistake.

“As we know, Agam wasn’t released with the other four women who were abducted and held together with her for most of their time in Gaza. Hamas watches everything we broadcast here,” Riki notes.

“Perhaps because of Merav’s public declaration against Shabbos desecration, Hamas decided to withhold Agam’s release that Shabbos.”

Riki spoke with Merav on that excruciating Motzaei Shabbos. “Do you regret having spoken at the hafrashas challah?” she dared to ask. “Maybe that’s what delayed Agam’s return with the others.”

The response was vintage Merav: “I did have a tiny moment of regret,” she conceded. “But I don’t interfere in Hashem’s plans.”

“Realize,” asserts Riki, “Merav’s kiddush Hashem through this ordeal, specifically in regard to shemiras Shabbos, actually altered reality! Hamas was supposed to release hostages in two rounds, the first one on that fateful Shabbos, and another round the following Shabbos. Because of Merav’s mesirus nefesh for Shabbos, Hamas added another, entirely unprecedented round, for Agam and two other hostages, and on a weekday! Do you understand that this is entirely me’al hateva? It simply does not follow any natural laws, certainly not when Hamas is concerned. And they released her on Rosh Chodesh Shevat, with all the schoolchildren festively dressed in white shirts, for her.”

And so on Thursday, in a hostage exchange that was not outlined in any ceasefire deal, and that wasn’t supposed to take place, Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud, and Gadi Mozes were released after a year and three months in captivity. Agam’s message and mesirus nefesh — so in consonance with her mother’s battle cry — quickly went viral, inspiring communities of Jews around the world.

Liri Albag, one of the lookouts released on that first Shabbos, was held with Agam for most of their time in captivity. When Liri was released, she met with Merav, and noting the significant strides Merav had made in her mitzvah observance, shared the evolution she had witnessed in Agam as well. It was Liri who told of Agam’s insistence on keeping Shabbos, refraining from eating nonkosher meat, and davening.

And it was Liri who encapsulated their joint journey.

“You and your daughter both undertook the same process, separately — but together.”

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 930)