Avi Mor

Avi and his twin sister, Ya'el, may she live a long life, were born in the summer of 1962 at the Assuta Hospital in Tel Aviv. Their parents, Voh and Shula Marnstein were Holocaust survivors. Changing their name to Mor and later adding a younger brother, Boaz, the family lived on Katzenelson Street in Givatayim, a small, neighborhood-oriented city where Avi grew up.

Avi and Ya'el were good-looking children, and at age six, they were chosen to lead a promotional campaign for the "Sela" fashion brand. Their pictures adorned newspapers, buses, and billboards. Ya'el, shy and reserved, soon gave up modeling, but Avi continued and even excelled. He quickly learned the angles at which he should be photographed, confidently smiling and charming, and conquering the runway.

At 9, he fell in love with Na'ama, a beautiful girl from his neighborhood, from whom he also received his first kiss. After finishing elementary school, Avi continued his studies at the Kfar HaYarok boarding school, returning home for holidays and festivals. The separation from his twin sister Ya'el, who continued to study near their home, was difficult, but the two remained close, and as adults, they would dream of growing old together and taking care of one another.

Avi was physically active and a skilled cyclist. In his youth, he would ride extensively, even as far as Tel Aviv and the road leading to Jerusalem. The shelf in his room was full of trophies he had won in national competitions. As an adult, sports continued to be an obsession, especially the gym and tennis. But Avi was also known for his intellectual curiosity and he devoured books of all kinds. He was also a cinema enthusiast, watching countless movies, dramas, and comedies, which explains his acting and mimicking abilities. Among his friends, he was known as the joker of the group. Avi was also interested in philosophy, Buddhism, self-improvement, and spiritual development. And, like many of his peers, Avi was also a scout.

When he was 16, the family went on vacation to Kibbutz Be'eri to watch a tennis match in which Avi’s brother Boaz participated. During this vacation, Avi met Tmira, the kibbutz member he fell in love with. Their love transcended geographical distances, and they were considered inseparable. While in the army, Avi would travel to Tmira by bus, crossing the country from north to south.

Avi served as an infantry medic in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade. The sights and experiences deeply affected him, yet he debated whether to sign on to the army as a career. In the end, he chose to marry Tmira and move to the kibbutz, where they had three children: Roi, Gil, and Tomer.

During the first Lebanon War, while expecting their third child, Avi was drafted into the reserves and stationed at the Beaufort Castle. The events of this war traumatized him, and he returned from reserves a different person. He carried with him a pain that was beyond his capacity to manage, and this affected all aspects of his life, including divorce from Tmira and his relationship with his third son, which he maintained inconsistently. Despite that, Tomer remembers beautiful shared moments: nature walks, drinking sweet and hot tea together, camping, bowling games, trips to Eilat, tasty soups Avi would cook in winter, and every Saturday evening, fun ball games with Roi, Gil, and his father. Playing paddleball on the beach in Tel Aviv, building giant sand sculptures, and always making sure to send Ya'el photos.

Avi loved animals. He collected pets and would sometimes be found caring for up to six dogs or a similar number of cats in his home. When it became too much for him, he would search for homes for each of them. At one point, he was raising two dogs, taking them for walks outside the kibbutz. One night, one of the dogs was hit by a car, which affected him deeply. He buried the dog and planted cacti and decorative plants nearby. Even when he was no longer raising animals in his home, he continued to feed cats on the streets and leave bowls of water in the street with extraordinary sensitivity and compassion.

Later, Avi worked as a tennis coach on the kibbutz and for many years in construction, caring for the kibbutz vegetation, and finally, at the car wash.

Over the past year, Avi experienced a severe emotional crisis. Old pains exacted a toll. He became more withdrawn and turned into a more reserved person. Nevertheless, he sought the good and the beauty in the world, even when it was challenging and burdensome for him. He very much wanted to rehabilitate himself and be part of society. He loved to repair and renovate things, and to tried to express himself through his attempts to improve the world around him, whether by caring for animals or by planting many plants in the kibbutz and beyond, in the cemetery, and near the garage where he worked.

Poet Yehuda Amichai wrote:

"When I die, I want only women from the burial society to treat me and do with my body as their pretty eyes see fit, and clean my ears of the last words I heard, and wipe my lips of the last words I said, and erase from my eyes the things I saw, and smooth my brow of worry…”

On October 7th, Avi was murdered by the sons of iniquity for no wrongdoing of his own along with many other kibbutz members. We pray that the angels of heaven receive the dear face of Avi, wipe his ears from the terrible last words he heard, wipe his lips from the last pain he uttered, and erase from his eyes and from all of our eyes the sights he saw – may he rest in peace and love.

May his memory be blessed.