Both Maayan Barkai and Elad Kidar were in Kibbutz Be’eri near the border of Gaza when Hamas attacked, leading them to fend off terrorists for hours until they were rescued.

While both experienced the loss of their homes and community members, Elad lost both his mother and father.

Kidar is a father of four, who, with his wife, awoke to the sounds of bombs exploding that Saturday morning.

“We woke up at 6.30 a.m. to the sound of alarms and bombs. We were really surprised; everyone was really surprised,” Kidar said.

Kidar shared that his father suffered from Parkinson’s and was killed by Hamas.

“I figured out he was murdered, later I got official word it was true,” he said.

He learned later his mother was also killed. He had been in touch with her on the phone the morning of the massacre. He said,

“After two months, the army told us she was murdered right after we spoke on the phone. Her body is now in Gaza somewhere, nobody knows where,” Kidar said.

Maayan Barkai and his wife have five children, two of whom were with them when the terrorists came through the kibbutz. They hid in a bomb shelter. “

We heard the noise of the whoosh, they came to bomb the house.”

The attacks left hundreds dead, including women, children and elderly people, according to the two men.  

The tragedy was overwhelming, according to Kidar, who said the bombs set homes afire, with people trapped inside.

He said, “Some were suffocated, others killed when they tried to escape the flames.”

Senior Rabbi Beth Stein shared that it’s important to hear these stories, even though they’re traumatic and a world away.

Congregation Emanu El participants listen as two men tell of their harrowing experience in Israel on 10/7/2023

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