Adi Baharav, 62: Longtime security officer set out to defend his town

Adi Baharav Rabinovitz, 62, from Netiv Ha’asara, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas attack on his town.

A member of the community’s local security team, Adi was posthumously recognized as a fallen soldier with the rank of captain in the reserves.

Another member of the local first response team, Alon Keren — whose son, Tal Keren, was murdered along the Zikim Beach that day — told Ynet that he set out that morning to defend the community and soon met up with Adi.

“We kept battling and passed between the houses in the community, including fighting the terrorists who had holed up in the house of Gil Taasa and Bilha and Yakov Inon,” said Alon.

“At a certain point, Adi was killed from a grenade that one of the terrorists threw toward us, next to the home of Shlomi and Ayelet Molcho,” he added.

Adi was buried on October 17 in Kochav Michael. He is survived by his two children, Hila and Nadav, his partner, Efrat, and his siblings, Amira and Oz.

In December 2024, Adi was reburied in Netiv Ha’asara.

Born in Ashekon, Adi was raised in Kochav Michael, a small town near Ashkelon. He had trouble focusing in class but was an autodidact who taught himself the subjects he cared about, was opinionated and always seeking adventure, his loved ones said. A redhead in his youth, he loved nature and the outdoors and even had a horse, Paz, he rode to school.

After finishing school, Adi enlisted in the IDF and served in the Paratroopers Brigade as an artillery liaison officer. After being released he underwent Shin Bet training and served as a security officer for El Al for many years, including living for a period in Switzerland, where his two children were born. He also served in reserve duty for many years, and was involved for decades in security work.

Adi and Efrat met after his divorce, and they quickly became a couple, with Adi moving to live with her in Netiv Ha’asara more than 15 years ago, mixing their families together. They loved to travel around Israel together with their children, enjoying the outdoors, particularly his beloved south, and Adi always loved to cook and feed others.

His sister, Amira, wrote on Facebook marking a year since he was killed: “My dear brother, the love of my life — it’s been a year of flowing tears.”

“A year of pain in my heart, a year of longing with no end,” she added. “There is no day that goes by that I don’t feel how much you are missing.”

Adi’s partner, Efrat, wrote ahead of Memorial Day 2024 that “the truth is I don’t need a day to remind me of you. You are present and appear in my life daily.”

“Sometimes it’s in a song that plays on the radio, sometimes someone in a passing car that looks exactly like you, and even in a dream when I was privileged to dream of you,” Efrat continued.

Nevertheless, she said, “You deserve so much for people to honor you and to remember you, even in places you had never been. After all, in every new place you visited, you would succeed in finding a connection with everyone, and the stories would begin to flow with no stopping.”

In a post marking a year since he killed, Efrat noted that “the remnants of you I see in your children, Hila and Nadav, who you shaped in your image. And in my boys, Omer and Assaf, who grew up and absorbed your values, your personality and your culinary skills. You will remain in our hearts forever, until the end of our days on this wonderful and terrible earth.”

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