Carmel Bachar
Carmel was born on January 4, 2008, the third son following Rotem and Nofar, and older brother to Hadar. Dana and Avida were experienced parents by then, enough to see that Carmel had been blessed with an inner calm. He never cried or made demands, therefore it was important not to overlook him. From a young age, he was self-sufficient, hardworking, and helpful wherever needed. When asked for assistance, he would always say "no problem", and it was safe to assume the job would be done.
In his workman's clothes and Redback boots, Carmel took everything easy, and whenever a problem arose, he simply did all that was necessary to solve it. He was a handsome, charismatic child who knew how to have fun and enjoy life; like his parents, he was full of love and surrounded himself with friends.
Carmel chose Arabic as his high-school elective, and learned to speak it. He was fond of TikTok and liked listening to rap music at the gym, as well as standup comedy by Yonatan Barak. Carmel was the natural leader of the Moran class, joined the bar mitzvah team in the Shaldag class, and started this year in the Lilach class.
In addition to being a responsible young man, Carmel was adventurous and curious. He liked wandering the streets of the kibbutz with his cousin Lotem as well as with Yuval, Lotan, and Tomer. They knew every nook and cranny of the kibbutz and even raided some food from the dining hall one night. No wonder Avida nicknamed them The Tricksters. Avida taught Carmel how to work a barbecue, and all Carmel's friends knew he had steaks and was always happy to cook them a meal.
Carmel loved the sea. He began surfing at age eight and loved the waves ever since. He surfed with siblings Nofar and Hadar and their cousins, knew and followed all the professional surfers on social media, and had planned to take a surfing course in Sri Lanka this winter.
The Bachars are a loving, warm, tight-knit, strong, and optimistic family. Dana and Carmel had a special close relationship. It was only out of respect for Carmel that Dana agreed to forgo her tradition and agreed to kiss him only twice a day: morning and night.
On that Sabbat morning, when they learned that terrorists had infiltrated Be'eri, Carmel quickly collected four butcher knives from the kitchen and placed them on the couch, saying to his father: "Don't worry Dad, we have four knives here. We will kill them."
The brave boy was gravely wounded. The hours passed, the rescue teams were late, and Carmel bled out next to his mother. With his last breaths, he asked his sister Hadar to be buried with his surfboard.
He was 15 when he died.
May his memory be blessed.
