Avia Hetzroni
Avia was born on Kibbutz Be’eri on August 13, 1954, the son of Margalit and Yair, two founding members of the kibbutz. Yair worked in the Be’eri printing press and was the legendary operator of the linotype machine, while Margalit worked in the sewing room and the kibbutz’s laundry distribution room.
Avia was the third of four siblings, with two older sisters, Ayala and Nitza, and a younger sister, Efrat. Avia was raised in the children’s house, in Gan (Kindergarten) Kalanit and afterwards in the Kitat (Class) Tzabar. He was a pleasant and sociable boy, happy and loved.
Before the army, Avia met Eva, his soulmate of over 50 years. Eva had come to Kibbutz Be’eri from England with her friend. It was love at first sight and continued to the end of their lives. Avia turned 18 at the start of twelfth grade and was called up for the army. Alongside members of the Shibolim class, he was placed in the Mechanized and Armored Infantry Brigade. There he got the nickname “Abuya,” which remained with him for the rest of his life. In the Yom Kippur War, he was a regular soldier in the ‘Television’ Stronghold, which was in the central sector, 10 kilometers from the Suez Canal. Many of his friends were killed in these defensive battles. Avia did not forget his friends, and in 2023 in anticipation of the 50th memorial anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, he and his friends from their military unit built a monument in their memory. Together they planted the “Avenue of Friendship” – a row of trees along the route leading to Coral and the Be’eri Badlands outside the main gate to Be’eri.
After the army, Avia and Eva travelled to England and lived in a London suburb not far from Eva’s family. Shira was born in England in 1978. After several years the family returned to the kibbutz. Shira joined the Tzivoni class. Avia and Eva worked in the Be’eri printing press, Eva as the English-speaking secretary, Avia in the drivers’ licensing project, servicing all the satellite stations across Israel. Concurrently, he volunteered as a local ambulance driver by dedicating himself to learning as much about medical emergency care as he could in order to provide emergency care to the residents of Be’eri and eventually the region.
From 1981, Avia volunteered at MDA (Magen David Adom - the Israeli Red Cross) at their station in Netivot. In addition to his role as a senior medic, he managed the station’s relations with different donors. He received widespread praise for his professional knowledge, resourcefulness, diligence, and his remarkable ability to put people with disabilities at ease and give them a sense of safety and security. At the MDA station he made sure to nurture the next generation of younger encouraging medical care paths as paramedics and even doctors. He was also known to quietly help youth in distress financially. On the kibbutz, he was part of the medical clinic team, and the team that managed Be’eri’s nursing home. Kibbutz members approached him with matters big and small; he gave lifesaving first-aid treatment, drove people to hospital, and even helped deliver a few babies.
Friends knew that during times of trouble, they should call Abuya. It became a kibbutz joke that if the first face you wake up to is Abuya, it’s a sign that you’re alive, but barely. He knew the medical history of the extended family and knew how to brief the emergency room about the patient he was bringing. He was professional, detailed oriented, and provided compassionate, high-quality medical care.
Avia loved kibbutz-life and felt a strong sense of belonging to his friends and the community; he knew the babies and the children and followed their progress. In the dining room he would pass between the tables, giving pats and hugs, and when he had time, he also joined the local ‘parliament.’
In 2010, his daughter Shira married and returned with her partner to Israel. There they had beautiful, healthy twins - Liel and Yanai. Tragically, a serious error in the care Shira received at the hospital resulted in a severe, life-changing brain injury. From then on, Avia devoted all his energy to the effort to rehabilitate Shira and ensure the children were raised well surrounded by loving family. The entire Hetzroni family joined the effort, especially Avia’s sister Ayala who created a loving home for the twins who lived with her. Avia came every day to help care for the children, and in this way, they all created a unique family model filled with love, support, and laughter. His other sisters, Nitza and Efrat, helped as much as they could, and each partner and cousin and their children extended this loving family model.
In 2015, Nitza passed away following a difficult illness. In February 2023, 9 months before October 7th, Eva died. Avia doubled and tripled his efforts to care for the children. He had a special connection with them – something between a father and a grandfather, a friend, and a brother.
Avia was brutally murdered on October 7, aged 69.
May his memory be a blessing.
