Tahel Bira
Tahel, the princess of the house, the youngest daughter, grew up to be a leader, opinionated, full of humor and joie de vivre. Like her sister, she was attached to the family: she adored daddy, hugged mummy and looked up to her older sister and brother. Her friends describe her as the one who solved problems for them - the "psychologist" with whom they often consulted about matters of the world and matters of the heart. Together with her good friends, she loved to wander the paths of the kibbutz in search of benches where they could sit for a long while and have soulful conversations, or of places to sit outside the kibbutz, places from where the sunset could be seen.
Tahel was a very funny and very serious girl. A cool girl. She loved vintage and oversized clothes. Leaned towards humanities and chose a major in psychology. She had just started guiding in the Working and Learning Youth movement, and she really liked that too.
16-year-old Tahel and 23-year-old Tair were so young when they were killed. They hadn't had time yet to put together any resumes, to realize some of the great loves that their abundant hearts hoped for. They just stood on the starting line, filled with the future, when their lives were cut down. Adolescence is characterized by the need to be aloof and move away from our parents so that you can grow wings. It is often accompanied by taking distance from our parents and by slamming doors. But that's not how the three children in the Bira family behaved. Everyone who was close to the family knew about the special relationship, knew that each of the family members preferred to be with the family, the family always came first. Five people and one dog, Poncho (who was with the family for twelve years and was also murdered), who were bound together and always with each other. They made sure to have meals together, take trips together, they shared a language and a sense of humor. A family of all for one, and one for all. And now only one is left.
Three months before the sky fell, Yasmin and Oron went to Portugal. Missing their children pushed them to make a statement: they went into a local tattoo shop and asked for a joint tattoo. When they finished, they sent the photo to the children. On their outstretched arms the children could read their names engraved on the skin: Tair, Yahav, Tahel.
On Friday, October 6, 2023, the family went out to a restaurant and a movie. Yahav's girlfriend also joined. When they parted, Yasmin and Oron and the two girls headed home, while Yahav and his girlfriend headed to his apartment in the kibbutz. On Saturday, at 10:58 the last sign of life was heard. Tair called Yahav from the Mamad (residential secure place). Screams, gunshots, silence, and words in Arabic were heard through the phone. After eleven days, all their bodies were identified in an area near the kibbutz.
The poet Rachel wrote in a poem called Metay (my dead ones) about the living dead, "The dead in whom death will never stick its sharp knife." She also wrote to Yahav from the distance of the years: "They are the only ones left to me, solely, in them only, death will not stick its sharp knife. At the turn of the road, at the dawn of day, I will be surrounded by silence, stillness will keep me company. She is a true covenant for us, an inseparable bond, only what is lost to me is my asset forever”.
Yahav is left with a great asset.
May Tahel’s memory be blessed.
