Noam Maman – an Israeli alum of Brandeis University – was sitting in Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan with his girlfriend’s younger brother, who was injured in the Hamas attack on Saturday, when he saw a face he recognized on Facebook.
Ofir Tzarfati, who Maman knew from rookie training in the IDF, was staring at him from a post Tzarfati’s mother had made: she, along with hundreds of other Israelis missing relatives and loved ones since the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival, had not heard from her son since Saturday. He had just celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday.
“Ofir loves partying and went to the Supernova festival to enjoy nature along with other young people just like him,” Maman wrote in a Whatsapp message on Monday. “Ofir was the funniest private in my rookie training. An outgoing, warm, and hearty person with the kindest heart. He served in combat ships of the Israeli navy, full combat service.”
Maman said via voice note on WhatsApp, “We don’t know where he is. I don’t know if he’s kidnapped, I don’t know if he’s alive.”
Tzarfati and Maman met while training for the Israeli Navy, where Maman served as a naval medicine instructor, before coming to the U.S. and attending Brandeis in 2018. Maman has not yet been called for reserve service; he does not know if he will be. “A lot of my friends are called for reserve service now,” he said.
Maman’s girlfriend’s brother, Rotem Iore, was stationed at the southern Kibbutz Sufa, when his unit was attacked, and a bullet punctured an artery in his leg. He is expected to make a full recovery in a couple of months. Maman reports that many in Iore’s unit are dead and many more injured.
At 7 a.m. on Saturday, Maman was in Beit She’arim, with his girlfriend. He woke up to the sounds of an alarm from his phone; Maman lives in Beersheba, and his phone is programmed to alert him if an air-raid siren is heard in Beersheba. “Towards 11 o’clock, we were already informed that my girlfriend’s brother was injured and transferred to a hospital by helicopter,” Maman said in a voice note over Whatsapp.
Immediately, Maman and his girlfriend, Adi, got in the car and drove an hour to the hospital, the whole time hearing rockets being intercepted by the Iron Dome. “We’ve been spending our days here ever since, while the hospital is targeted by missiles, bombed constantly, with Iron Dome interceptions here, above our heads,” he said on Monday.
Ben Binyamin is another friend of Maman’s who attended the festival, and was seriously injured. A soccer player in Israel, Benyamin and his girlfriend were hiding in a shelter after the attack started, and were targeted with grenades. Benyamin lost right leg. His girlfriend also lost her leg. “They were evacuated, somehow, by miracle, to Soroka Hospital, where they were treated in Beersheba,” said Maman. “Ben is a good friend of mine, originally from my kibbutz.”
Maman has not been able to speak to Benyamin yet, but his parents were able to visit him in Hadera on Monday, where he and his girlfriend are recovering from their legs being amputated above the right knee.
Maman grew up in Yokneam Illit, in the northern part of the country, and completed his IDF service before getting his BA and MS at Brandeis (he graduated last year). He now works in Ramat Gan as a data analyst.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it and process everything that’s going on,” Maman said. “Every Israeli knows at least one person who got hurt or was kidnapped or died. We’re talking about entire families. Children, mothers, grandmothers. It’s hard to describe. It’s heartbreaking. It’s unbelievable.” Θ
