OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY
60 | NOVEMBER 2 • 2023 J
N
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missing people is ongoing:
The tally, which started at
20 dead out of 115 missing
kibbutz members, has now
grown to 85 dead and is likely
to increase. Additional people
who lived at Be’eri, but were
not members of the kibbutz,
were also killed, for a total
death toll of more than 100.
Each of those statistics is
an individual known on a
first-name basis to members
of the intimate, pastoral
kibbutz, where cars do not
enter beyond the gate and
members’ main source of
entertainment is each other.
“You read the list of the
dead,” says Gal Cohen,
who is 54 and has lived on
the kibbutz his entire life.
“These are people you grew
up with and had countless
experiences and interactions
with.”
Cohen’s new routine
consists of receiving updates
regarding who in the kibbutz
family is dead or captured.
Alongside that, he spends
his days attending funerals
and shivahs, all the while
struggling to hold things
together emotionally. That
reality is typical of what
Be’eri members are currently
experiencing as the tight-
knit community attempts
to collectively process an
unspeakable tragedy.
Describing one day, Cohen
lists a series of funerals he
and his family are attending,
all of neighbors they knew
personally.
“I was this morning at the
funeral of a good friend,
Hagi, who was in the civil
defense patrol with me,
a good friend who was
murdered in the war to
defend our home,” he said.
“Now my daughters are at the
funeral of Dana and Karmel.
Avidan is left without a leg —
they killed them in the bomb
shelter.”
He continued, “They are
doing the funeral closer to
the center [of the country].
At 4, I need to go to a funeral
ceremony that we are doing
for Yoni, who was able to
protect his children. He left
the bomb shelter and hid
them inside, where they were
not found, and he was killed
outside. … I am a strong
person, but after five or six,
you are broken.”
There are so many funerals
and shivahs, some far from
the Dead Sea, that members
cannot possibly attend them
all.
“There was a day with 17
funerals, and you are not
able to race to each one,” said
Cohen. Shuttle services have
been offered to help members
pay their respects as much
as possible. Some of the
funerals are being thought of
as temporary; families plan
to rebury their loved ones on
the kibbutz once the military
allows them access.