Tal Maman

Tal Maman, 38, from Kibbutz Mivtahim, was killing fighting off a Hamas invasion of the kibbutz on October 7.

He is survived by his wife, Anat, their children Yonatan, Yuval and Maya, as well as his parents, Orli and Menachem and siblings Mor and Yaniv. He was buried on October 12 in Moshav Tzohar.

Since he was a member of the kibbutz’s local security team, he was retroactively recognized as a fallen soldier by the IDF with the rank of sergeant major in the reserves. His wife said he headed out early that morning after reports of a terrorist invasion and never came home. He was last seen on WhatsApp at 7:12 a.m., she said.

“From what I understand they fought until their last bullet,” Anat told the Kan public broadcaster.

A third-generation farmer by trade, Maman had his own fields in the kibbutz, which have been tended by friends, family and volunteers ever since October 7.

His wife said they started dating as seniors in high school and had been together ever since.

“Tal was a spoiling and loving and supporting father,” Anat told Kan. “He was so looking forward to the period, this period, where the kids are a little older and we can do fun things with them and to fly with them and to go out with them, [looking forward] to the bar mitzvah and the bat mitzvot.”

His friend Baruch Rachamim, described him on Facebook as a “super farmer — all the marketers wanted to receive your produce, everything was quality, with love.” He said that “every holiday you would donate with your father to needy families, do everything so that nobody would be lacking.”

He described how much Tal cared for his family: “You worried about Yonatan a lot, wanted to celebrate his bar mitzvah, we talked about it, you took him to Hapoel Beersheba games. You looked at Yuval with great love, ‘Look how much she’s grown, how smart she is and how much pride she brings us.’ And little Maya, who already turned 7, you didn’t stop hugging, picking her up and empowering her, pushing her forward. And Anat your wife, you always looked at with appreciation, how much she took care of you, the children, how much quiet she gave you, allowing you to develop and flourish.”

Anat told Kan that “my whole life was with him and surrounding him. My life has no meaning without him… I’m [living] only for my children now.”
Source: The Times of Israel