Yoram Bar-Sinai

Yoram Bar-Sinai, 75, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

He is survived by his wife Nili, their four children Michael, Ruti, Yohai and Noa, and 10 grandchildren.

On October 7, when terrorists invaded Kibbutz Be’eri, Yoram grabbed an old pistol and rushed to his daughter Ruti’s house, his wife, Nili, told Ynet. There, with a gun in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, he fired at invaders until he was shot and killed.

“He did what he had to do, he was a father and a grandfather,” his son, Yohai told the Kan public broadcaster. “He would do it again, without thinking twice, take the gun and go to protect his daughter and grandchildren.”

His body was not discovered until more than a week later. He was buried in late October after his children who were abroad arrived in Israel.

A lifelong kibbutz resident, Bar-Sinai was a talented architect who was deeply involved in growing and shaping the kibbutz as well as surrounding towns and communities.

He served as a reservist in the Yom Kippur War and then studied architecture at the Technion, during which time he met and married Nili, according to a kibbutz eulogy.

According to Ynet, he worked for more than 40 years with the AlefBet Planners architecture firm, spearheading its efforts in the south, and designing notable buildings, including the Be’eri printing press and Sapir College in Sderot.

Fellow architect Danny Bar-Kama told Ynet that the late architect’s “design of the Be’eri printing press emphasizes Bar-Sinai’s relationship to the kibbutz in which he grew up and his desire to combine existing architecture with innovative design,” adding that he had “an aspiration to maintain” parts of the original building to match the rest of the kibbutz.

In later years he took his expertise around the world, in particular with community planning in Africa, including projects in Angola, South Africa and elsewhere.

“Yoram was passionate about Africa and about creating and bringing innovative solutions to rural development, specifically, housing,” wrote Zeevik Halber, who worked with him on such projects. “Yoram was a people’s man and was able to make contact with everyone on site. It was amazing to see how people reacted to him… always calm, always looking at things in a way that none others would. Gentle person with so much experience and knowledge, yet so humble.”

His son, Yohai, told the Kan public broadcaster that his father “lived the kibbutz and its fields and spaces in every limb of his being, in recent years he planted hundreds of trees around the kibbutz… to add greenery to the areas, and he would go around on a tractor he bought specially to water them.”
Source: The Times of Israel