BATON ROUGE - Dozens of people gathered to hear the account of Omer Shem Tov, a former hostage who was held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 505 days. 

Shem Tov was released in February. Now that he is free, he's sharing about his time in captivity and how it grew his faith. 

Organizers of the Baton Rouge event say they hope Shem Tov's story inspires others. 

"Despite the hardships and challenges that the young man faced, he really was able to tap into his faith and really share that with the crowd here. They came away with a sense of faith and hope and resilience," said Peretz Kazen, the Rabbi and Co-Director of Chabad at LSU and Greater Baton Rouge.