Ben Hasid, 23: Fashion entrepreneur and beloved little brother

Ben Benzion Hasid, 23, from Rishon Lezion, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.

Ben attended the rave with a group of four friends, an outing they had been planning and looking forward to for months. When the rocket fire began, the five of them got in a car and tried to head home, but they were attacked by a cell of Hamas terrorists lying in wait.

They got out of the car and ran, but Ben was slain alongside two of his friends, Guy Azar and Moshe Saadyan, while two of them managed to escape and survive.

The last Instagram photo Ben ever posted was in August 2023, a photo of him and Guy together with the caption “brother from another mother.”

Ben was buried on October 10 in Holon. He is survived by his parents, Mazal and Yom Tov, and his three older sisters, Pnina, Hen and Lital.

Born and raised in Rishon Lezion, Ben’s family said he was a happy easygoing kid, close to his family and a doting uncle to his nieces and nephews. He loved sports, particularly soccer and boxing, and also loved music and video games, according to a state eulogy.

After finishing high school, he served in the IDF’s Kfir Brigade, and following his release worked in the fashion industry, dreaming of opening his own business. He always made sure to dress in high style, his family said, and also pursued his love of music, enrolling in an electronic music course just two weeks before he was killed.

“Ben, you gave me the title of big sister,” Lital wrote on Instagram. “And I swore to myself that I would fulfill that role my entire life. When you were a baby you loved when I would scratch your back, and sing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider.’ I’d pick you up from daycare and accompany you to school, when you grew up a little I found my best friend.”

Lital recalled working together at a local restaurant, spending hours together during COVID lockdowns, partaking in sports and exercise and having “deep conversations about life with the best conclusions like we were twins.”

One of the things Ben would often say, she recounted, was, “‘Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about dancing in the rain.’ Benzi, you were my warm place and you always will be, I promise you that my kids will know what kind of uncle they had. And eventually, I will come and we’ll dance in the rain.”

On what would have been his 24th birthday, Ben’s sister, Hen, wrote on Instagram, “I miss you like I’ve never missed anything or anyone in any situation.”

“You are with me, I can feel it, watching over us, I’m sure,” she added. “Thank you for the privilege of being your sister… Help us succeed in being happy again.”

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