Chaim Zohar

Loving father and grandfather Haim Zohar, 73, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in his home on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. He was slain along with his Sri Lankan caregiver, Sujith Nissanka, whose remains were shipped to Sri Lanka for burial in early November.

Zohar was laid to rest on Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev on October 23. He is survived by his wife Erga, their three children, Adi, Nitzan and Dan, and four grandchildren, Yonatan, Yuval, Daniel and Libby.

His daughter Adi Zohar wrote on Facebook on October 10, “You taught us so much about life, about illness, about coping, and about family. We never for a moment thought that our final goodbye would be so cruel and terrible, in a terror attack in your home on the kibbutz you loved so much.”

Zohar was born in Tehran in 1950 and came from Iran to Israel with his family at the age of seven. The family settled in Kfar Saba, where his mother worked at Meir Hospital as a cook and his father worked for the local municipality. He moved to Kibbutz Be’eri at age 15 and fell in love with the Gaza-belt community.

During his IDF service in the Paratroopers Brigade, Zohar fought in the Yom Kippur War on the southern front, before devoting himself to work on the kibbutz. Among various roles, he worked in plumbing, and as a delivery driver for the printing house, the kibbutz’s main source of income.

“During the transition from the lira to the shekel, the printing presses were running 24 hours a day, and Zohar worked round the clock with them,” an obituary on the Kibbutz Be’eri website read, adding that he was a “kind and patient man, even in times of stress.”

Carrying on his legacy, his son Dan shared on Facebook on October 17 that he was returning to work at the Be’eri printing press. “This is how we start to win, and we will prevail because there is no other way!”

He met his wife Erga when he was 31 years old, and the two were married shortly after. After a few years on Kibbutz Dalia near Zichron Yaakov, the two settled on Kibbutz Be’eri to raise their family. Zohar loved cooking traditional Persian food like rice and salad for his family and took pride in cleaning up meticulously after mealtime.

In his final years, Zohar suffered from dementia and was cared for by his devoted wife and caregivers.
Source: The Times of Israel