Jewish tradition teaches that each person, each soul is a worlds are gone. Eden Yerushalmi (24) was murdered in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. The IDF found her body, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23), Ori Danino (25), Alex Lubnov (32), Carmel Gat (40), and Almog Sarusi (27), in a Gaza tunnel. Each were shot by the terrorists in recent days. 

It is almost too much to bare.

Every morning for months now, I put a bracelet with Eden Yerushalmi’s name on my wrist. Today, the day she will be buried, I will do so for the final time. 

Though I never knew Eden, it feels like I do. A bracelet with one name was an attempt to hold the incomprehensible. 250 human beings violently abducted from their homes, a peaceful music festival, their army bases, and brought into the depths of hell by terrorists. 

And, through my own tears for Eden and these people I never knew yet I knew so much about, the way they died cannot be the only things we remember. 

@bringthemhome posted:

Eden…Tel Aviv, daughter of Shirit and Maor, sister to May and Shani. A vibrant young woman with many friends and hobbies. Eden loved spending summer days at the beach playing paddleball, attending parties, and was studying to become a Pilates instructor. 

On October 7th, she worked as a bartender at the NOVA music festival. When the sirens started, she sent a video of the rocket fire to her family group chat, saying she was leaving the party.

On her way to the Nova festival to work, Eden took video of herself dancing. She got to the festival around 2am and was able to dance and enjoy the midnight sets before her morning shift. Eden hid in her car with two friends who were murdered by terrorists. She played dead and remained on the phone with her sisters. After an hour, she found the courage to run and hide. Then the terrorists found her. Her last words were to her sisters, “they caught me.”

According to the Times of Israel, “97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 now remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.” 

As it is written in Psalms, “קָר֣וֹב יְ֭הֹוָה לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֑ב, May God be close to the brokenhearted,” (Ps. 34:19). I pray that the Yerushalmi, Goldberg-Polin, Danino, Lubnov, Gat, and Sarusi families can know a drop of comfort from the Holy One at this devastating time as they bury their treasured ones. 

May Eden’s precious soul forever be for a blessing.