Chava Ben Ami, z"l, was murdered in Kibbutz Be'eri where she lived for most of her life.
She was born in Aleppo in Syria as Evelyn Yehezkel. On Passover 1948, when she was three years old, she was smuggled out of Syria and into Israel on foot, with her mother Sally, her sisters Mazal and Doris, her grandmother and her mother's brother.
When Chava was 9, her mother sent all the chiildren to different places, to grow up in better conditions. That's how Chava ended up in Be'eri. In true kibbutz spirit, she worked all sorts of jobs until, at 45, she studied to become a beautician.
At 56, Chava was diagnosed with breast cancer but overcame it. Chava played, drew, embroidered and in her old age knitted cat dolls, teddy bears and more and gave them to her grandchildren. She really liked to work in the garden and cultivated a garden of confusion. She made sure to cultivate a warm and loving home, which was always pleasant to enter. She adopted young and old people who had no family.
Upon learning of Eve's death, her kin received hundreds of messages that spoke of her huge heart and great charm, of her lack of judgment, of her bright face and her ability to accept every person as they are.