28 | NOVEMBER 2 • 2023 J
N

T

amir Oppenheim 
called his sister, 
Rachel, in Israel in 
the early morning hours of 
Oct. 7. He was on a family 
vacation in Italy; she was 
preparing to start her day 
with a hike in the beautiful 
surroundings of Kibbutz 
Be’eri, one of the most 
successful kibbutzim in 
Israel, where Oppenheim was 
born and raised. 
As they were chatting, 
Oppenheim, vice president 
of the Central Region at 
Friends of the Israel Defense 
Forces (FIDF), heard rockets 
exploding in the distance. 
It was the start of what we 
now know was the deadliest 
attack on Israeli civilians in 
half a century. But initially, 
Oppenheim and his 67-year-
old sister were not alarmed.

“It sounded like a regular 
thing by Hamas,” he says. 
“She ran into the safe room. 
In the last 21 years, no one 
on our kibbutz was killed 
from rockets.” 
From Italy, where he was 
traveling with his wife, Elian, 
and children Romi and 
Omer, Oppenheim connected 
to Israeli radio and that’s 
when he began to realize 
the magnitude of what was 
unfolding. He called his 
sister again to make sure she 
was safe.
“She said they’re shooting 
all over,” Oppenheim recalls. 
“She survived, hiding for 
eight hours as the terrorists 
made attempts to get into her 
apartment. An Israeli special 
forces K9 unit broke her 
window. They were shouting 
in Hebrew, and they opened 

the safe room door and took 
her out on foot. They took 
her out of the war zone.”
While his sister survived, 
120 others — babies, child-
ren and entire families 
— were murdered in the 
massacre and dozens more 
are being held hostage. 
Homes were burned and 
destroyed. Horrifying 
surveillance footage and 
images of the terrorist attack 
and aftermath have been 
broadcast around the world. 
Many are calling Kibbutz 
Be’eri Israel’s “Ground Zero.” 
“She was either dead or 
in Gaza, and if you know 
anything about what they 
do to people in Gaza, that is 
worse than death,” devastated 
Kibbutz Be’eri resident, 
Thomas Hand told CNN 
after learning his 8-year-old 

daughter, Emily, was killed 
by Hamas. “Death was a 
blessing.”
Each victim in the close-
knit community is someone 
Oppenheim grew up with, 
played basketball with, went to 
school with or knows. He says 
Kibbutz Be’eri, home to the 
biggest printing house in the 
Middle East and known for its 
art gallery, dairy farm, bakery 
and communal singing events, 
is part of his identity.
“Everyone always called 
me ‘Tamir from Be’eri.’ I used 
to drive by with Americans 
on the way to visit soldiers 
and ask, ‘Do you feel the 
magic? Do you feel the sense 
of paradise?’” he says. “Now 
we’re seeing the pictures on 
FOX, CNN and Israeli news 
channels — the massacre that 
my people went through and 
my sister and friends and 
how many people got killed. 
I stand with my brothers and 
sisters who witnessed the 
unimaginable. My heart is 
broken.”

HOPE AMID THE HORROR
For the last 16 years, 
Oppenheim has dedicated his 
career to supporting Israel’s 
soldiers through Friends 
of the IDF, a non-political, 
non-military organization 
started by a group of 
Holocaust survivors that 
collects charitable donations 
for the wellbeing of soldiers, 
veterans and family 
members. He once led the 
Metro Detroit chapter and 
now oversees fundraising, 
events and outreach for the 
organization in Michigan, 
Ohio, Illinois and North 

Heartbreak and Hope 

OUR COMMUNITY

Tamir Oppenheim grew up on Kibbutz Be’eri, 
the site of one of the deadliest Hamas attacks.

ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

LEFT: Tamir with his sister, 
Rachel; daughter, Romi; wife, 
Elian; and son, Omer.

