Yona Cohen

The October 7 attack on Kibbutz Be’eri was devastating, and ravaged three generations of the Cohen family.

Father Ohad Cohen, 43, was killed by Hamas terrorists along with his 10-month-old daughter Mila, who was shot while in the arms of her mother, Sandra.

Sandra was seriously wounded but managed to flee and survive, along with the couple’s two sons.

During the Hamas attack, Ohad’s mother Yona, 73, was killed in her home on Kibbutz Be’eri. She was only found 11 days later, and on October 22, all three family members were laid to rest side by side at the Yarkon cemetery in Petach Tikvah.

A friend of Yona’s, Sharon Abramovitz, wrote, “I’ll miss our phone calls, your support, the ease about you, your patience, and the powerful and strengthening sensitivity you had. You were always smiling, like a ray of sunshine.”

Ohad was a longtime Maccabi Tel Aviv FC fan and worked as the Salesforce Project Manager for Elad Software at their Sderot office.

In a post on Facebook, Elad wrote of Ohad that “it was hard not to fall in love with his bashful smile. He was the type of person that you could talk to about anything. An intelligent, funny, and talented man — a true friend. A rare blend of the directness of a kibbutznik and unusual sensitivity.”

Last year, Cohen was selected by the charity “51 for the Promotion of Gender Quality” as one of the 51 people “helping assure a better future.”

A friend of Ohad’s, Shai Baruch wrote on Facebook that “in the brief conversations I had with Ohad on the kibbutz I always felt tranquility and love. Ohad loved sports and he mainly loved [tennis player] Roger Federer. He traveled to see many matches and always chose to be happy.”

Ohad was an athlete, father, husband, fitness guy, and as of two years ago, a guitar player.

In April 2022, Ohad uploaded a video to his Facebook page in which he can be seen strumming an acoustic guitar. In the caption he wrote, “I always dreamed of playing guitar. To sit with my kids and sing a little for the soul. A year ago I decided to buy a guitar and make my dream come true.”

This past week, a video he posted singing the Yehuda Poliker song “Flower” went viral, the words taking on a heartrending meaning in the wake of the Cohen family’s unfathomable loss: “They took your life from you. Oh holy wars, angels wept for you with dry eyes. Your smile, baby girl, they buried it in the ground. How silence grows from this turmoil.”
Source: The Times of Israel