Kineret Gat
For her 60th birthday, Kinneret asked for only one gift: to spend an evening with all her friends and family, singing the songs she, and only she, chose. She wanted to give the people she loves the soundtrack of her life, from childhood to the present: "Mother and Father - you planted melodies in me."
Kinneret was born in Degania Beit in 1955 to parents who were legendary educators in Degania. Her mother, Tova, was a teacher and later the principal of the local school. Her father, Naim, was the youth group's educator. Both were book lovers and even took young Kinneret and Eilat on a mission to Guatemala to teach the local Jews the holy language. The two years in Guatemala were etched in the family’s memory as a significant experience. Kinneret got to know the local culture and adopted the Spanish language, which she used throughout the years. It was important to her to return for a "roots visit," which she fulfilled with Ashel a few years ago. During this visit, she reconnected and had an emotional reunion with a childhood friend. Kinneret's perfect Hebrew was the Hebrew she heard at home.
Her father Naim was as rooted an Israeli as one could be. He was born in Peki'in, a descendant of a family of priests who never left the land. Margalit Zinati, who guards the ancient synagogue in Peki'in, is his cousin. As an Arabic speaker who grew up among Arabs, he served in his youth in the Arabic unit of the Palmach, the unit of the undercover operatives. In 1946, he participated in the establishment of the 11 settlements in the Negev, including Be'eri.
Kinneret was very close to her father. He wrote stories about his childhood in Peki'in and his experiences in the Palmach, and it was very important to him to voice her opinion and listen to her comments. After he passed away, she continued to edit and rewrite the "Stories of Naim" and turned his memorial day into a family olive harvest event in Peki'in, in the family's olive groves. Thanks to Kinneret's initiative, the extended Dahan family goes up to Peki'in every autumn to harvest the olives and connect with their roots. This tradition cannot be stopped, and the extended family has resolved to continue the harvest every autumn - especially in her absence.
Overall, Kinneret was the organizer and connector of the family, the responsible adult, the classic eldest sister to Eilat, Jordan, and Snir . Since her mother passed away, she took her place. She was always like that, someone who could handle anything. An outstanding student in all subjects, a youth movement leader, a diligent worker in the Degania cowshed, an energetic and sociable person, her parents instilled in her an insatiable desire to teach and learn everything. In adulthood, she never stopped studying for a moment: a bachelor's degree in Land of Israel Studies at Beit Berl College, a tour guide, countless Open University courses, law studies at Ono Academic College, a master's degree at Bar-Ilan University, and more.
Her greatest pride was her role as the educator of the "Kitat Rakefet" in Be'eri. Not just an educator, but truly a teacher for life, as testified by her students, with whom she maintained a warm relationship even after they grew up. More than anything else, Kinneret loved to hike. Not just travel, but hike. With a heavy backpack containing everything needed, she traversed the country at every opportunity. She walked the entire "Israel National Trail" with a small family group (with Ashel and the in-laws Giora and Iris), ensuring not to skip a single meter. In addition, she planned and experienced family hiking trips around half the world. One of the highlights was the Annapurna Circuit, with Or, as a shared experience of mother and son.
The hiking group that formed through her initiative in Be'eri made sure to go on hikes around the country from time to time. The retirement of most of the members allowed for weekday hikes more frequently. After Kinneret's passing, the group renamed itself "Kinneret's Hikers" and continues her legacy by hiking in her memory. She was a certified tour guide and a guide for everyone she knew.
Kibbutz Be'eri, where she arrived in 1984 following Ashel, and where their children were born and raised, became a home she dedicated herself to and loved deeply. She filled numerous central roles there: educator, community manager, head of the emergency team, yet she never shied away from any task required by the kibbutz. Need a laundress? She laundered. Need an extra hand in the field crops? She worked in the fields. Need a project manager to restore the dining hall that burned down? She was enlisted for the task.
The main role in life was being the mother to Carmel, Alon, and Or. Her children recount that they had a loving, embracing, and supportive mother who was involved, attentive, and interested, someone they could rely on to support them in every choice, even when they went their own ways. Since 2020, she enjoyed magical years as a grandmother to Gefen, who was born to Jordan and Alon. Anyone who saw Grandma Kinneret touring with Gefen in a stroller, barefoot, exploring every path in the kibbutz, singing her childhood songs to her - witnessed true happiness.
Love led her to live her life in a settlement on the border; she continued to love the kibbutz, this land, and this country with all her heart. In her youth, she volunteered for reserve duty in the Emergency Economy (Malah), where she was trained as a bus driver to transport soldiers during war. In her later years, she was very active in the protest for democracy. There were no Saturday nights at Balfour, on the bridges, and later at Kaplan, without Kinneret standing in her usual spot, with an Israeli flag adorned with twinkling lights. She feared for the fate and character of the country more than for her own life.
During the violent events that struck southern Israel in October 2023, terrorists broke into the family home in Be'eri. Or was not in Be'eri that morning, Ashel found shelter for hours and survived the attack. Alon, Jordan, and Gefen were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists but escaped near the Gaza border. Alon and Gefen managed to slip back to Be'eri, but Jordan was recaptured, taken to Gaza, and returned to Israel after 54 days. Carmel was also kidnapped and has been held captive by Hamas for many months. Kinneret was taken by the terrorists and murdered near her home, in the kibbutz she loved so much.
The songs that accompanied her life, "On a Path in the Heart of the Fields," "When the Road is Still Open," "Night Slowly Falls," "The Herd Plods Down the Village Roads Once Again," "A Small Gray-Eyed Girl Prayed Far Away," "And the Last Day Lay Aside All Its Crowns," continue to accompany us, in joy and sorrow, in happiness and grief. You planted melodies in us, our Kinneret. Did you exist, or did we dream a dream?
May her memory be blessed.
