Roi Popplewell

Roi "Pepe" z"l was killed in the massacre in Kibbutz Re'im. Roi was a crazy athlete with tremendous physical strength. He was a black belt karate who sent his teacher and several training partners to a hospital. The most wonderful of his qualities was his love for animals. There was always a puppy or five who adopted Pepe because "like Pepe" works differently with him. In my youth, here and there we rode together on horses and Pepe would understand their hearts and needs without speaking. He often stopped me in the middle of the ride because the horse was not comfortable and Pepe would come over and remove a hidden nuisance from the leggings or the saddle blanket. He was a tall, muscular handsome guy with laughing eyes and natural dusty curls from home. And the girls tried to tame him and failed. He would fall in love and fall in love according to his inner rhythm that no one understands. And all of them first got excited and then gave up and only the animals would get answers from him. And we were left without answers about his life and without answers about his death. And we know two things: there are no such wonderful people, one was made and broke the mold. Roi's mother, Hanna, and brother, Nadav, were kidnapped to Gaza.