Tchelet Za’arur-Fishbain
Tchelet was born in Ashdod seven years after Li’el. Her mother Gladys was born and raised in Be’eri, and when Tchelet was three years old, the family returned to Be’eri. In February, about a month after they had arrived, Gladys and Tchelet, when leaving the building of the children’s home Ofarim, were hit by shrapnel from a Qassam rocket. Since the attack, Tchelet was left with shrapnel in her leg.
In August 2008, the family moved to Kibbutz Urim. Together with the children of the kibbutz she went to the first grade of Nitzanei Eshkol elementary school, and after finishing that school she went to Nofei Habsor school. In this way she acquired more and more friends. Tchelet was a precocious girl, opinionated and assertive, always seeking justice - a girl with her feet on the ground. Once she had made a decision, it was impossible to change her mind. By the time she was in her early teens, she was “the other half” – a listening ear, offering sound advice, tolerant, a good and dear friend.
The tenth grade was the Covid year. It was a hard year for her, being disconnected from her best friends outside of Urim. For that reason, when she started in the eleventh grade she asked to be placed in a special class, with Batya Marzayev, a teacher who was an important person for her, both at school and in her personal life. She passed her final exams with high marks, in the arts curriculum.
For Tchelet, social life was important and meaningful, like it is for most girls or boys of her age. Her mother invested much time in driving her, to ensure that Tchelet wouldn’t miss any get-togethers. Like all the children of Urim, she was a member of the socialist youth movement Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed. She participated in activities and summer camps. In the ninth grade she became a youth leader and in the eleventh grade she became part of the Sartan (Crab) unit of the youth movement, and she went rafting with them. They became a wonderful group of friends who kept in touch with her even after she had finished high school. On her eighteenth birthday she flew with her girlfriends to Paphos (Cyprus), and even had the chance to fulfill her dream to travel to the Sinai.
Tchelet lived her life to the fullest. She loved to go to parties, go out into nature, have drinks with her girlfriends on Giv’at Hakalaniyot, the Hill of Anemones. Together they went to see the sunset, to lie on the roof of the dining room and watch the stars, went for night walks around the kibbutz, and have deep, intimate conversations. People who were younger than she – and older people as well – always found an attentive ear and good advice. From the moment she started to drive a car she often went to eat sushi in the evening, or to the Zikim Beach she loved so much.
Tchelet had a strong sense of responsibility and work ethic, which was evident wherever she worked: in the children’s home, in the cowshed or in the ice cream parlor where she had worked in Urim for one year and a half. Tchelet applied for a year of agricultural service on a kibbutz in the Arava. Because she wasn’t accepted, she decided to stay close to her grandmother in Be’eri. So she arrived there in July to work as a temporary worker in the babies’ home with Dana Bachar z.l. It took her some time to get used to life away from home, but gradually she made new friends. Shortly after her, Dor Rider came to the kibbutz. They immediately felt drawn to each other. They were like one soul; their personalities were alike, and so were their ethics. About a week before the Shabbat, they went to a party in the Be’eri woods. They spent Succoth with Dor’s parents, and they had planned to travel to relatives on kibbutz Bror Hayil on Saturday, October 7.
On the preceding evening, the birthday of the kibbutz was celebrated in the community center. Tchelet and Dor managed to kiss and embrace the family, and promised they would meet the next day. A kiss for grandma and for mother Gladys, a last kiss. Saturday morning the kibbutz woke up to the sounds of explosions from the terrible attack and the infiltration of the terrorists. Between 6:30 and 11:23 Tchelet spent long hours of correspondence with her mother, with Li’el, and with friends. She managed to tell that Dor was protecting her. And then the connection was cut off.
For ten days her fate was unknown. Her telephone was located in Gaza, and there was hope that she was taken hostage. And then came the knock on the door, and the terrible news that Tchelet was no longer alive.
Tchelet was a wonderful, high-spirited sister, granddaughter and friend. She spread light and love around her. We will remember her with her big smile, and with her outer and inner beauty. We miss you dearly, and so do lots of your childhood friends on Urim and Be’eri, the family, and all the people whose lives you have touched. Tchelet’s greatest loves were the kibbutz, nature and the sea. Therefore, mother Gladys decided to lay her to eternal rest on Kibbutz Ga’ash, close to the sea.
May her memory be a blessing.
