Eli Sharabi, HOSTAGE

Summary

Totally Booked with Zibby

Guest: Elie Sharabi (“HOSTAGE”)

Date: October 7, 2025
Host: Zibby Owens

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Episode Overview

This deeply moving episode marks the second anniversary of the October 7th attacks in Israel. Zibby Owens interviews Elie Sharabi, a survivor of 491 days in Hamas captivity and author of the bestselling memoir Hostage. Their conversation explores not just the details of Sharabi’s ordeal, but the extraordinary resilience, practical wisdom, and hope that shaped his survival and continue to guide his advocacy for remaining hostages and his embrace of life post-release.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Will and Practicality to Survive

• [05:02] Mission to Survive:

  • Elie immediately understood his situation: "The minute they drugged me from my house, I understood I'm going to be in a hostage and I need to do everything I can to survive this hell." (Elie Sharabi, 05:15)
  • His survival was driven by his promise to his daughters: “For me to survive was my mission and I knew I'm going to do everything to do that.” (Elie, 05:15)

• [05:51] Leadership in Captivity:

  • Elie’s managerial experience on the kibbutz helped him not only survive but also support fellow hostages: "It's not really fair to expect someone is half of my age to have all this experience. So I knew it’s on me... to manage every situation." (Elie, 06:11)
  • He emphasized compartmentalizing emotion from mission: "I knew I need to separate between my emotion and my mission." (Elie, 06:11)

Aftermath of Trauma

• [07:05] Managing Trauma and Nightmares:

  • Interestingly, Elie reports he hasn't suffered from nightmares, crediting his ability to divide emotion from experience:
    “I was probably very good, as I said, to separate between, you know, my emotion and...the hell that we had...for me, it's not something that was a problem for me.” (Elie, 07:20)
  • He tried to support other hostages who did experience nightmares.

• [08:07] Relationship with Food:

  • Deep appreciation for basic things has stuck with him:
    “Suddenly everything is very tasty for me...I'm not spoiled anymore with food...But I'm not eating a lot now because I didn't have food, you know, for 16 months.” (Elie, 08:18)

The Power of Story (and Shadow and Bone)

• [08:50] Books as Lifelines:
  • In a powerful segment, Zibby reads how Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone became a beacon of hope and strength for hostages:
    “They obsess about this book. Something about it... gives them strength. They told me that the protagonist learns to navigate her way through the darkness and that although fictional... her character holds lessons about surviving in the dark, about captivity.” (Zibby, 09:26)
  • Elie relays:
    “Because I couldn't read that [without glasses]...sometimes it scared them how much it’s...by the details, it look like...what we have in the tunnels and in captivity, sometimes it was scary for them as well.” (Elie, 10:14)
  • One fellow hostage even learned English through the novel.

Finding and Inspiring Hope

• [11:14] On the Book’s Unexpected Effect:
  • Zibby expresses how surprisingly hopeful and inspiring Elie’s memoir is: “You were so in command of your emotions and it was really quite inspiring.” (Zibby, 11:40)
  • Elie responds, “I’ve always been optimistic, always try to find solutions and not to cry about any situation...self pity...it’s like a curse for me anyway.” (Elie, 17:12)

The Global and Personal Aftermath

• [17:52] Hopes for a Hostage Deal:

  • Elie shares cautious optimism for an imminent deal for remaining hostages, including his brother: “I really believe that...this time it looks closer than ever.” (Elie, 18:03)

• [18:45] Shock at Global Antisemitism:

  • The increase in antisemitism shocks Elie: “The hate that is all over the world for the Jews, it's unbelievable, unimaginable. That is happening still in 2025 and not in 1940.” (Elie, 19:07)

How Listeners Can Help

• [20:13] Advice for Allies:
  • Elie urges everyone, “Jewish, non Jewish, I don't care. [If you] can explain to ignorant people about facts, about not to hate other people...just speaking against antisemitism all over the world, that will be more than enough for me as Israeli and as a Jewish.” (Elie, 20:32)

Grief, Memory, and Rebuilding Life

• [21:13] Living with Loss:

  • Elie’s family (wife, daughters, brother) were killed. He says: “I don't need any Memorial Day...They're with me all the time...But it will be in this alongside my life, not instead of them. I'm intending to rebuild my life.” (Elie, 21:29)

• [22:43] Public Figure Reluctance:

  • He’s learned to accept his role as a public figure (“I'm not a poster anymore. I'm a real man. I'm back from hell...to appreciate every basic thing...you have all the time the choice to decide one thing or another.”) but also shares, “I will be more than happy to come back to be anonymous and maybe I'll succeed one day.” (Elie, 24:12)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “It was like talking to God.”
  (Zibby expressing awe at interviewing Elie, 02:02)

• “For me to survive was my mission and I knew I'm going to do everything to do that.”
  (Elie Sharabi, 05:15)

• “Self pity… it's like a curse for me anyway. I'm trying to find all the time a solution and to look forward and that's it. This is me.”
  (Elie Sharabi, 17:12)

• On the impact of reading Shadow and Bone: “Her character holds lessons about surviving in the dark, about captivity.”
  (Zibby Owens reading Elie, 09:45)

• “The hate that is all over the world for the Jews, it's unbelievable, unimaginable. That is happening still in 2025 and not in 1940.”
  (Elie Sharabi, 19:07)

• “Just speaking against antisemitism all over the world, that will be more than enough for me as Israeli and as a Jewish.”
  (Elie, 20:32)

• “I'm not a poster anymore. I'm a real man. I'm back from hell, rebuilding my life, happy, very optimistic for the future.”
  (Elie, 22:55)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• 02:02 – 05:00: Zibby’s introduction, context, Elie’s bio, the impact of October 7th
• 05:02 – 07:05: Elie on the mission to survive, compartmentalizing, leadership in captivity
• 07:05 – 08:07: Post-release trauma, nightmares, effects on daily life
• 08:07 – 10:14: Food after starvation, the power of Shadow and Bone in captivity, the role of story
• 11:14 – 17:12: On the inspiration of his memoir, practical optimism
• 17:52 – 21:13: Hostages’ fate, public and political response, global antisemitism, what listeners can do
• 21:13 – 24:30: Living with loss, rebuilding, balancing public and private self

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Tone and Takeaways

The tone is deeply empathetic, respectful, and awe-filled, as Zibby allows Elie's extraordinary strength and clarity to take center stage. Elie, in turn, is calm, thoughtful, optimistic, and focused on what people can tangibly do to push back against hate, raise awareness, and choose hope and rebuilding—even after unimaginable loss.

This episode powerfully demonstrates how literature (even fantasy novels) can help sustain hope in desperate situations, and how even those most wounded can model optimism, practical action, and community care.

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For new listeners:
This is a brisk but profoundly memorable conversation about survival, humanity, and the relentless search for meaning and healing after horror. Elie Sharabi’s journey and wisdom, as captured in both his memoir and this interview, serve not only as a testimony to what he endured but as a call to action and compassion for all.

Recommendation:
Everyone, regardless of personal background, will find inspiration and perspective in both Elie's book and this intimate, timely conversation with Zibby Owens.

Transcript

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[Zibby Owens]

Today is October 7th. It's the second anniversary of the horrific attacks in Israel, and I've had the honor of interviewing Elie Sharabi just yesterday, which was unbelievably moving to talk to a former hostage. It was the first time I just. I could barely even speak. I was just in so much awe of him. His resolve, his determination, his strength. It was like talking to God. Anyway, our interview was quite short. That's all the time he had. But I took it and I will share it with you here. To all the families of hostages, the victims of October 7, all of the Jewish people in Israel in the Diaspora who have been attacked and hated so much as I have. In the aftermath of October 7, as the world split in two and suddenly the ancient antisemitism that we thought was buried came roaring back. To everyone who has gone through this, the 180. As Ellie says in our interview, I just want you to know that I am with you and have tried to do my part to help, as I know so many of you out there have done as well, and that the most important thing we can all do, Jewish, non, Jewish, whatever, is remember we are all human and just draw on our strength as people, our love of family, our love of each other to heal. Because that is what we are all in dire need of doing. As Elie's interview shows, here's his bio. Elie Shirabi is a former Hostage who survived 491 days in Hamas captivity following his abduction from Kibbutz Bayari on October 7, 2023. Sharabi has since become a global advocate for the remaining hostages, meeting with world leaders like US President Donald Trump, speaking at the United nations and sharing his story with audiences around the world. His memoir, Hostage, the first published account by a released Israeli hostage, became an instant number one bestseller in Hebrew and the fastest selling book in Israeli history. Born in Tel Aviv to Yemenite and Moroccan parents, Sharabi moved to Bayari as a teenager and later married Leanne, a British woman with whom he shared two daughters, Noya and Yahel, aged 16 and 13. A longtime resident of Beari, Shirabi served as the kibbutz's business manager as well as the chief financial officer of the the kibbutz Bayeri Printing and other private companies in Israel. Shirabi continues to work tirelessly as a leader in the campaign for the release of captives. This is our interview. Welcome. Thank you so, so much for coming on Totally Booked to talk about your book Hostage, which was just beyond amazing as a book, as a piece of history, as a testament, all of it. Thank you.

[Elie Sharabi]

Thank you very much. My honor.

[Zibby Owens]

One of the things that you say a lot in the book is that you were on a mission to survive. You were able to compartmentalize and focus on just survival. Can you talk a little bit about how you did that and what that meant to you?

[Elie Sharabi]

Well, the minute they drugged me from my house, I understood I'm going to be in a hostage and I need to do everything I can to survive this hell. I knew I'm going to have lots of challenges ahead of me and I just need to make my promise to my daughters that I'M coming back. So for me to survive was my mission and I knew I'm going to do everything to do that.

[Zibby Owens]

And you were able to use just every skill you had from all of your jobs and on the kibbutz and, and all of it and led the other young men through this horrific experience. How were you able to do that so well? And I mean, it definitely speaks to trying to get these types of jobs for all different types of reasons.

[Elie Sharabi]

First of all, I'm very practical person. So I knew I need to separate between my emotion and my mission and. And I knew that all the experience I have as a manager, working with people and managing people and working with them and give them missions and deadlines and all this, it's something will help me to manage every situation with my captors and with the other hostages. And it's not really fair to expect someone is half of my age to have all this experience. So I knew it's. It's on me and a part of surviving and surviving good and surviving together with the other hostages. It's to manage every situation there.

[Zibby Owens]

I know you take us through in detail what it was like then. How has it been for you now? You talked about another hostage having nightmares while you were underground in the tunnel. Do you have nightmares? Do you have other effects afterwards?

[Elie Sharabi]

I didn't have a nightmare. I didn't have nightmares there and I don't have nightmares now. I was probably very good, as I said, to separate between, you know, my emotion and. And the hell that we had in. On October 7th in my house. And so for me, it's not something that is really was a problem for me. But of course, other hostages had nightma. It wasn't easy to experience that with them and talk about it. So I've tried to speak with them during the day about good things, but I will not have nightmares in date night.

[Zibby Owens]

And what is your relationship with. In the aftermath of the starvation? What is your relationship with food like now? Do you feel like, what is it like?

[Elie Sharabi]

I'm not, you know, first of all, I appreciate. I appreciate food. Suddenly everything is very tasty for me. I don't know why. I'm not spoiled anymore with food. But I'm not eating a lot now because I didn't have food, you know, for 16 months. I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm doing okay. I'm trying to eat. I love food. I'm trying to eat less now because everything I eat now I need to run more. So.

[Zibby Owens]

Yes, you speak in the book About Leigh Bardugo's book. I emailed her and I was like, lee, do you know that Eli Sharafi is talking about you in his book? And she was like, I can't stop crying. But you write about it. Can I just read this little section out loud? Is that okay? You say we find ways to distract ourselves from the hunger, to pass the time in our cell, to distract ourselves from the distress and the pain. We have a book that reached us, Thea Hirsch and Ori Danino back in the previous tunnel. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. We learn from Alon that the author is Jewish. We pass the book around between us. I'm short sighted, so I can't read it, but or and Ilan devour it again and again. Alia knows very little English and struggles to read it. So he doesn't. But as time drags on in, boredom mounts. He decides to try. He, he picks it up and start reading and starts reading. And then you say they obsess about this book. Something about it, besides being a way to pass the time, gives them strength. They told me that the protagonist learns to navigate her way through the darkness and that although fictional and the book itself a fantasy, her character holds lessons about surviving in the dark, about captivity. They take turns reading it over and over. Tell me about that. It's amazing.

[Elie Sharabi]

Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing that a fantasy book have a parallel lanes, you know, and details like we had in the tunnels? What do you say about that?

[Zibby Owens]

It's amazing.

[Elie Sharabi]

So, because of, because. Well, I couldn't read that because I didn't have my, my glasses with me. But they were fascinated about that and sometimes it scared them how much it's, you know, by the details, it look like the, with the time we have in the tunnels and in captivity, sometimes it was scary for them as well. So because of that it was very, very important. And Elia Cohen could study English because of this book. I think it was his first book there. And he started to read line after line and asked us about words there and we explained that to him. And I think the second or third time he read that book, he just, you know, he didn't need to ask anymore. That's done. It's amazing for him. So yes, if you, if you have any connection with her, thank Araba by my name. You know, it's, it would be a great pleasure to meet her.

[Zibby Owens]

I actually, I asked her to come on our zoom, but she had something going on. So I'll have to connect to you afterwards, but she was totally emotional about it and just couldn't believe it. So I hope you I hope you know that. Well the way that her book helped me you all then your book is sure to help so many other people through situations that of course are not exactly parallel but getting through anything. I mean the skills that you show us in this book were so unexpected to me. I thought it would be. Obviously it was so painful to read, right? But it was so hopeful. You were so in command of your emotions and it was really quite inspiring. Was that. Did you know it would have that effect?

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[Elie Sharabi]

You know sometimes I still ask people why, why you're inspired and what you're inspired from. I don't really understand all the time what I'm saying. It's differently from other people. But you know I'm always been been optimistic, always try to find solutions and not to cry about any situation and self pity, it's like a curse for me anyway. So I'm trying to find all the time a solution and to look forward and that's it. This is me. This is me.

[Zibby Owens]

Wow. How do you feel about the conversations now as we're talking? It looks like perhaps there will be a deal for the hostages. Do you believe it? What do you think?

[Elie Sharabi]

Well, I really believe that. I'm very optimistic about that. This time it looks closer than ever. I'm very optimistic in that in the next, you know, a week or two we'll have sign deal that bring back my brother first of all and alone and the other 46 hostages that remain there bring back to their families. And I think that's maybe, probably, probably it will be the, the day that will start to heal as you know, as a state, as individuals, people in Israel are in trauma from October 7th.

[Zibby Owens]

Of course, of course. I mean you mentioned that after you came out you were totally bowled over by the support for the hostages worldwide, not just in Israel, but diaspora Jews everywhere. Were you also surprised by how much hate there was coming towards Jews since October 7th?

[Elie Sharabi]

Of course. It shocks me every time still. And you know, yes, I was. First of all I was very, very surprised about their support of the Israelis support the hostages, the hostage, family and Jewish all over the world. Their solidarity with the Israelis, it's amazing and I'm very grateful for that. And the hate that is all over the world for the Jews, it's unbelievable, unimaginable. That is happening still in 2025 and not in 1940. So when I meet parliament members in UK, in US, in Australia, two weeks ago, I'm talking with them and that they have to have a stronger voice against anti Semitism because any hate crimes that's going to happen and happened like a week ago in Yom Kippur, in Manchester, it's on their responsibility. This, you know, politicians, what do you think?

[Zibby Owens]

Is there anything people like me who want to help, who want to fight against all of this hatred and unite our community, people who are following your journey and want to help you and all of the hostages and everything. Like what? What would be most helpful to you or to our. Into our tribe?

[Elie Sharabi]

Each one of people, even Israelis, Jewish, non Jewish, I don't care. That can explain to ignorant people about facts, about not to hate other people. It's okay to have a disagreement is democracy. I don't have to think the same as you, but we can speak and especially not to hate each other. So just speaking against antisemitism all over the world, that will be more than enough for me as Israeli and as a Jewish.

[Zibby Owens]

And so in addition to having to survive this excruciating time, you then had to come back and learn about your family. How is that something that you can ever quote, get through? Do you think about them all the time? Do you try not to think about how do you get through?

[Elie Sharabi]

I don't need any Memorial Day for to remember my wife, my daughters, my brother. They're with me all the time. In any situation, if I'm listening to music in the car, if I'm going to meet their friends, in any situation, I remember my wife, my daughter. It will be through them my last day in life, you know, but it will be in this alongside my life, not instead of them. I'm intending to rebuild my life to have a full meaning life. I'm going to be very, very busy, happy. So this is me.

[Zibby Owens]

Well, I'm. I'm so sorry for the loss and again, just have so much respect for you in every way for being able to write about it. I've known your agent Jen Joel for a very long time. By the way, how did you team up with her?

[Elie Sharabi]

Actually my agent, Neil Blair from UK is working with her. So he connect us. So that was their connection between me and Jennifer. And I'm very about. I'm very happy about this connection. Anyway, me too.

[Zibby Owens]

She's amazing. You're doing a huge event tomorrow night at Temple Emanuel in New York City. What are you going to tell everybody? What do you want everybody to know when they meet you in person?

[Elie Sharabi]

First of all, that I'm not a poster anymore. I'm a real man. I'm back from hell, rebuilding my life, happy, very optimistic for the future. You know, I want to speak about appreciation in life to appreciate every basic thing that happening to you in life about that you have all the time the choice to decide one thing or another. This is what I want people will feel in, you know, tomorrow night and any, in any event, I'm making.

[Zibby Owens]

Are you okay with being this public figure now? Do you ever want to just be like, no, no, I think I'm going to just watch TV and hang out?

[Elie Sharabi]

Well, I probably. I'm not sure I'm going to watch tv. First of all, I didn't watch TV eight months now since my release because it's. Because I'm busy.

[Zibby Owens]

Yeah.

[Elie Sharabi]

And if probably I watch television, it will be something sport or something like that. I'm not going to waste my time watching television, especially not news. But you know, I'm just happy, just happy with my life. That's it.

[Zibby Owens]

Amazing.

[Elie Sharabi]

That's it. I'm happy with my life. My life changed 180 degrees. I become familiar figure. I don't know why. I will be more than happy to come back to be anonymous and maybe I'll succeed one day.

[Zibby Owens]

Wow. Well, in the meantime, you're using your voice and your experience to help so many people and hopefully to just make such a difference because we need you to keep speaking out. And thank you so much. This book is amazing. Everyone should read it.

[Elie Sharabi]

It's like, thank you very much.

[Zibby Owens]

In addition, you're a great writer. So I mean, there you go. What more can you ask for?

[Elie Sharabi]

Thank you very much.

[Zibby Owens]

Thank you very much. Thank you.

[Elie Sharabi]

It was my honor.

[Zibby Owens]

Thank you.

[Zibby Owens (Sponsor Reads)]

Thank you for listening to Totally Booked with Zibby, formerly Moms don't have time to read books. If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review, follow me on Instagram ibbyowens and spread the word. Thanks so much. Oh, and buy the books.

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