Gafnit Nehmad

Mar 2, 2002 - Gafnit Nehmad, 32, of Rishon Lezion was one of 10 people killed in a suicide bombing on Saturday evening near a yeshiva in the ultra-Orthodox Beit Yisrael neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem.

The Nehmad family had come to Jerusalem for Shabbat to celebrate a family bar mitzvah at the Mahane Israel yeshiva in Jerusalem. When the Sabbath ended and guests started to leave, the Nehmad family gathered on the street outside for the havdalah ceremony (held at the conclusion of the Sabbath).

Gafnit Nehmad was killed together with her entire family: her husband, Shlomo, and their daughters Shiraz and Liran.

Her uncle, David Rahamim, said that Gafnit didn't want to attend the bar mitzvah in Jerusalem. "They weren't religious," he said, "and Shiraz was frightened by the idea of traveling to Jerusalem, on account of the terror strikes. Gafnit had a premonition, a bad feeling."

Gafnit was a secretary in the Rishon municipality's human resources department. Her desk at work is covered with family photographs, along with friendly messages written to her by her colleagues from work. This Purim, she came dressed as a nurse for the staff party. According to her colleagues, Gafnit was a special woman, a bright woman, who cared for everyone. "She would come into the office in the morning, smiling. She had a great laugh. Shlomi and Gafnit were a match made in heaven. They loved each other, and were devoted to their children."

The Nehmad family was buried side by side in Rishon Lezion.