Rony Levy
Rony was born on September 14th, 1943 in Algeria, the youngest son of Makhlouf and Fortuna. He was the youngest brother to Jacques, who was drafted into the French army during World War II, and Ariel and Ilan, who joined the "Dror" movement and emigrated to Israel to Kibbutz Re'im. Rony immigrated with his parents to Israel at the age of 12 to Kibbutz Re'im, and was sent as Yeled Hutz (a child from a family not from the kibbutz) to Kibbutz Be'eri. Tzafrirah Shomroni taught him Hebrew, and in her and Gideon’s home, he found a family. Within three months, he was speaking Hebrew and had integrated into the Eshel group in school. He taught his friends French songs, excelled in soccer, and worked in the electricity workshop.
When he was 17, Rony met Noa when she came to Be'eri for an agricultural school trip. In the army, Rony served as a combat fighter in the Paratrooper’s 890th Battalion, and upon completing this NCO course, attended the parachuting instructor course. During the following years, he did his reserve duty as a parachuting instructor, eagerly responding whenever called up. He parachuted hundreds of times. In addition, due to his skills and knowledge of French, Rony also instructed officers from the Congo and Cameroon, as well as Phalange forces from Lebanon.
After the army, at age 21, Rony and Noa married, and a year later, Yuval was born. Eldad was born four years later. Rony wanted to continue his military career but was appointed by the kibbutz as chief electrician. He consequently attended the electrician course at Ruppin College and went on to manage the branch for the kibbutz – insisting that all development, maintenance, and electrical work be done by Be'eri' electricians. In 1973, in a car accident that killed six kibbutz members, Rony lost his adoptive parents, Tzafrirah and Gideon, and just as Gideon and Tzafrirah had adopted him, so did he and Noa adopt their children – Einat and Yaron.
In 1976, the kibbutz movement asked Rony to go as an emissary to manage the southern France branch of the "Dror" youth movement. During his stay there, he was called up several times for covert activities in Russia and to meet with Prisoners of Zion. Upon his return, Rony decided to change his career direction and study design and architecture, but he had to delay these studies due to the needs of the kibbutz. Finally, at age 45, he went to study interior and product design in Tel Aviv, graduating with excellence and joining the teaching staff. After his studies, he was offered a job in marketing at the kibbutz printing house, focusing on the greeting-card sector, where he also excelled.
In 1995, Rony and Noa went again to southern France as immigration emissaries on behalf of the Jewish Agency. Upon their return, Rony applied and was accepted to be the construction coordinator of the kibbutz, and ended up building the Ashalim neighborhood and upgrading and designing the workspaces and offices in the printing house. As a result, he became an integral member of the printing press maintenance team and a partner in their legendary Tuesday-morning breakfasts. Even after retiring, he remained a consultant for design changes at the printing house. At the same time, Rony was an active partner in every project throughout the kibbutz that required architectural design, such as the Garden of the Sixties. He provided interior design consultation to any kibbutz member who asked, and together with a team led by Tamar Ben Zvi, he was involved in establishing a memorial room for fallen soldiers in the armament room and in establishing the Founders Square in honor of the kibbutz founders in the community center – a project only recently completed.
Rony was a devoted athlete. He started as a dangerous left fielder at Hapoel Be'eri in soccer, where he played with Gideon Shomroni and many others. As he grew older, he switched to tennis and eventually fell in love with cycling – both road and off-track. Rony crossed Israel twice on his bike and even organized cycling trips for himself and his friends in Israel and abroad. In recent years, Rony had a tradition: every birthday, he rode his age in kilometers, and just a month before his death, he biked an entire 80-kilometer trek.
Rony was a family man. When Eldad moved with his children to Australia, it was very difficult for Rony, but he knew how to maintain the relationship from a distance and kept daily contact with his grandchildren Shuni, Liam, and Dean. Rony was happy when Yuval finally found Nurit and started a family with her, soon adding Daniel and Eilon to the fold, as well as the families established by Einat and Danny with grandchildren Ayelet, Nimrod, Avner, and Dana, and Yaron and Alison with grandchildren Gideon, Millie, and Yuval. In recent years, Rony became a great-grandfather with the birth of his great-grandchildren Noam, Ya'el, and Sol, but Rony, who was named after him, he did not get to know.
Rony was murdered on October 7th, 2023, as he fought bravely, until his last bullet, against the murderers who broke into his home. He managed to save Noa, but not himself.
In the book "Life Stories," to commemorate Be'eri's 60th anniversary, Rony wrote: "When I take stock of my life, I thank my two brothers who paved the way for me to the country and the kibbutz, and my parents who dared to follow in their footsteps. It is difficult for me to believe that I would have developed elsewhere in so many different ways and in so many endeavors. The motto, which has characterized my life is 'Veni, Vidi, Vici' - 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' I always aim high and feel that I have achieved what I wanted."
May his memory be blessed.
