Moshe Ben Porat

Moshe Ben Porat, 58, from Tiberias, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Ofakim on October 7.

Ben Porat had traveled to the city in order to attend the brit mila of his grandson. He was slain by terrorists while he was on his way to synagogue that morning.

While his family knew he had been killed that day, his body was collected with many others and brought to the Shura military facility where it was not identified for more than a week.

Ben Porat was buried on October 16 in Tiberias. He is survived by his wife, Avital, their three daughters, and several grandchildren.

He worked as a cook and a kosher supervisor in an assisted living facility in Tiberias. According to Army Radio, he loved to cook and bake while off the clock as well, and specialized in Persian food.

On a memorial page, his friend, Erez, wrote that it is “hard to write about you in the past tense, Moshe the righteous and the humble. A god-fearing man, full of generosity for others, all of his life spent helping while raising an incredible family. A huge and painful loss.”

His friend Sivan Moshe wrote on Facebook that he “always had a smile on your face, a pleasant and righteous man, loving and beloved by all.”

“It’s hard to grasp that you’re no longer with us,” she added. “I’m asking you to send strength to your wife Avital, you were everything to her.”

His friend Haim Vaknin told a local news site that Ben Porat “taught me how to be happy even in tough times. Now my heart is broken and I’m crying, and when I heard that Moshe died, my sadness is even greater.”

Vaknin said they’d been friends since childhood, and attended the same synagogue: “His joy set him apart. Even though I knew that he had experienced many not easy things in life, he was always smiling and laughing. We all learned from him what it was to be happy.”

Vaknin said Ben Porat was always responsible for the post-prayer kiddush spread in the synagogue on Shabbat, “and he always made sure that there would be enough for everyone and nothing would be missing.”

Source: The Times of Israel