Jewish Heritage Night at Fenway Park began with one of the most emotional ceremonial first pitches in recent memory.

On the mound before Monday night’s series opener with the visiting New York Mets was Omer Shem Tov, who survived 505 days in captivity after being taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Shem Tov walked onto the diamond wearing white sneakers with “BRING THEM HOME NOW” emblazoned on the side. On the front of his Red Sox jersey was a yellow ribbon to honor his fellow hostages, 58 of whom are still trapped in Gaza. Surrounding the pitcher’s mound were Jewish members of the Red Sox front office. The standing ovation began before he was even in his windup.

“It was amazing, amazing,” Shem Tov told the Herald after. “It’s a great opportunity, and it’s an honor for me to be here tonight.”

Shem Tov is the first former hostage to visit Massachusetts. He wasn’t at Fenway because he loves the Red Sox, or even baseball, at all. He knew the sport, but didn’t grow up watching or playing games, so to prepare, he practiced throwing in Israel. But even though he’s never done anything like this before, he wasn’t nervous.

“After the thing that I’ve been through, there is really, I don’t know, (a) small amount of things that can affect me, make me nervous,” he said. “I was excited.”

Shem Tov also met Alex Bregman, the biggest Jewish star in baseball, before the game. Shem Tov was among the hostages taken from the Nova Music Festival. Bregman, a vocal supporter of Israel and advocate for the hostages, recently spent a Red Sox off-day in Toronto at the Nova Exhibition, going on a tour with someone who survived Hamas’ attack on Nova.

“He’s representing us,” Shem Tov said. “Any Jew is family of mine, so it’s cool, it’s very cool to see him succeed like this, and I wish him the best, only the best.”

On the mound, Shem Tov smiled and blew kisses to the crowd, radiating warmth and kindness. But of course, there’s pain and heartache, too. He doesn’t hide that.

“On one side, I’m free,” he said. “I’m supposed to be the happiest man alive. And I am happy, I really am, because I’m with my family, I’m with my friends. But at the same time, there is my brothers and my sisters, the other hostages, the remaining hostages, they’re still there. So it’s difficult to move on.”

“There is a lot of guilt,” Shem Tov continued. “Every time I take a sip of water, I know for them it’s like heaven.”

Shem Tov was kept in dark cells underground for long periods of his captivity, and was given so little food that he became emaciated. Only in the days before his release did his captors make sure to feed him, so he wouldn’t look as starved as he had been.

It’s been less than three months since Shem Tov finally came home. He has spent a significant amount of that time traveling the world. Nine days after his release, he flew to Washington D.C. to meet President Trump.

“I have a mission right now,” Shem Tov said. “My mission is to bring all the remaining hostages back home. So I will do whatever it takes. I will be heard where it is. I will go and show myself with me wearing the ribbon. And I’m trying to effect, I’m trying to do something, I’m trying to move things, so anything I can do, I will do it. Anywhere I can be, I will be there.”