Liel Hetzroni

Liel was born in the spring of 2011, together with her twin brother, Yanai. Their overjoyed mother, Shira, had only a few hours to enjoy them before her medical condition took a turn for the worse. Complications at the hospital altered the course of Shira’s life, making it impossible for her to raise the twins full-time, though her place as their mother was never diminished.

The Hetzroni family came together around the children, forming a loving family unit that would help raise the children and care for Shira. Shira's father, Avia, was both grandfather and a father to the twins. Eva was the solid and steady grandmother who loved to spoil her granddaughter. Avia’s sister, Ayala (Aylus), was the great-aunt who took on the role of a mother. The other aunts, together with the cousins, were everything they could have wished for - a loving, extended family that was both supportive and enabling.

Liel grew up surrounded by love. Perhaps due to the special circumstances of her life, she was both mature for her years and childish. She was a strong, resilient child, but she also harbored fears which she battled with bravery and honesty. Only those closest to her knew about her fears. Aylus was very close to her. They looked out for each other. Aylus protected Liel, and Liel looked out for Aylus, who suffered a cardiac arrest a few years prior to 2023. Liel had a special relationship with Yanai, her twin brother - love and togetherness, and arguments and reconciliations, some small, others bigger - like typical twins. Every day they went out together on Saba Avia’s mobility scooter, visiting Safta Eva and Shira, their mother.

Liel also had a special connection with Eyal, her cousin. When she was little, Liel wanted to do everything that Eyal did: eat what she ate and dress like her. When she got a little older, she loved going with Eyal to the beach and eating at McDonald’s on Saturdays. When she wanted something, she knew how to persist in getting it.

Liel was part of her Class group known as Lilach (Lilac), which consisted of 6 boys and 12 girls. She had two nicknames - the main one was Looly, but she also shared a nickname with her twin brother: Hetzbooki and Hetzbooka, derived from their surname, Hetzroni.  Studying was not what interested her most, but in the classroom she was impossible to miss - full of energy, personality, and a presence that filled the room. Liel was sociable and sensitive to those around her - both children and adults.

Liel blossomed outside of the classroom and school grounds, with her sensitivity and love for other children, with her creativity and the love she gave to everyone. Dror commented that “Liel taught me many things”. When cousins Omri, Michal and the children came to spend Shabbat on the kibbutz, it became her excuse to squeeze from Aylus an extra day off from school so that she could spend time with Arbel and Ma’ayan. This is how Liel managed to get Aylus to make an exception to their agreement that she would only miss school every other Friday.

Liel’s classmates describe a lovely girl who enjoyed hanging out with her girlfriends, baking and cooking. She was goofy. She had a big heart that was pure and innocent. She was the kind of girl who knew how to organize things and get them done, both in the classroom and outside of it. She was a drama queen, and even when she got really mad, she never held a grudge and always forgave. She was a girl with a big laugh, who was forgiven for almost everything, who knew how to encourage her friends in tough moments, and to make sure her friends were happy, even when she herself did not feel good.

Liel had all kinds of dreams. She deliberated whether to become a cosmetician, singer or pastry chef. In the meantime, like many of her generation, she was active on Instagram and expressed herself freely through painting, drama and art.

In grade six, Liel and her classmates began working in the petting zoo of the kibbutz. In addition, Liel began working in the local kindergarten, Gan Tamar, where she proved herself to be as mature as the grownups working there. When school finished for the summer, Liel and Yanai appeared in the end of year show and were very excited to be part of it. They rehearsed in Sagi and Efrat Shifroni’s house, and everyone said how proud and happy they were.

In the start of the 2023 school year, Liel was supposed to begin the bat-mitzvah year of her class. She was so excited by this that she had already made sure her uncles and aunts, and other relatives would come on the appointed date for the big celebration. Sagi says that she had learned to tie a Square Knot and that she had returned home and demonstrated animatedly with her hands.

Liel was honest and straightforward about herself. On many occasions she said she was not good at certain things, but she overcame this, she insisted on trying again, and was overjoyed and proud when she succeeded.

Liel never got to celebrate her bat mitzvah. Her class will no longer have 6 boys and 12 girls in it, as they did at the start of the Bar Mitzvah school year.

Liel was murdered on Shabbat on October 7th, along with her twin-brother, Yanai, and Ayala who was like a mother to them.

Avia, her grandfather, was also murdered that same horrible Shabbat.

That unique quartet left this world together, even death could not tear them apart.

May her memory be blessed forever.