From Tragedy to Strength: A Survivor’s Message About Loss, Faith, and Choosing Life

What does a young child go through when she realizes that her parents are gone and will never return?

Limor Zussman, whose parents were killed in the Versailles Hall disaster 23 years ago, wrote to Sivan Rahav-Meir:

“Hello Sivan, my name is Limor Zussman. Twenty-three years ago, when I was six years old, my parents went to a wedding at the Versailles Hall and never came back. As is known, the floor collapsed and dozens were killed. I woke up to a morning in which I understood that I was alone in the world.”

She added that when she hears about Avigail Idan who lost both her parents and returned from captivity, as well as other children in similar situations, she feels a deep sense of identification, because she knows that complete darkness. But, she says, even within that darkness, there can be light.

A Moment of Faith and Strength

“I remember everyone sitting shiva at one of my aunts’ homes and crying. One aunt fainted, another screamed… I went outside — no one noticed, and walked into the yard. I pointed at three stars in the sky and said out loud: ‘Dad and Mom and God are watching over me together.’ Later, it turned out that a press photographer had captured that moment.

From that moment, I received strength from beyond this world, to hold on to life and choose it. Over the years, I learned the verse: ‘For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will gather me in.’ I learned about the strength of widows and widowers, of orphans. There is a special protection over them.”

“I don’t want to make empty promises — it doesn’t simply go away. I am still that six-year-old girl waiting for my parents to come back from the wedding. I am still that twelve-year-old girl standing at my bat mitzvah ceremony while my friends stand next to their mothers and their fathers are in the audience. But I have seen it in my own life: God takes a soul, but He also gives comfort.”

A Message to Those Around Them

“You have to work for it. To everyone around them, I say: be with them in their pain. Give, embrace, and don’t ask for anything in return. Be sensitive and careful. Give them time. And most importantly, do not pity them. Instead, highlight their strengths. Don’t focus on their wounds, but on their inner strength. Don’t make them dependent on others for the rest of their lives, but help them build themselves with courage.”

She concludes: “Today I am married, a mother, and studying to work in counseling and family support — perhaps precisely because I lost my own family. It is possible to choose life.

I stayed up all night writing this, for myself, for bereaved families, for everyone, and especially for one little girl. Welcome home, Avigail.”