Command Sgt. Maj. Shmuel Golima, 48: Helped those in need

Command Sg. Maj. Shmuel Smatzo Golima, 48, from Sderot, was killed while battling Hamas terrorists at the police station in the city on October 7.

He leaves behind his wife, Sima, children, Elian, Oria, and Elior, parents, and five siblings.

Shmuel was called up on Saturday morning after Hamas terrorists began their attack on the South. By the time he got to the police station, the terrorists had already reached it and were shooting at anyone they saw.

Wife Sima told Ynet that she spent the day trying to call the police 100 hotline to find out what had happened to her husband and was eventually told at 2 a.m. that he had been at the police station but it was still unknown whether he was killed or injured.

Twelve days later, his body was identified.

“It hurts,” Sima told Ynet. “We had so many plans. We were going to travel and move to a bigger house and he was taken from me.”

She said, however, that there was no doubt that morning that he would go out to help.

“He had a heart of gold,” she said. “He always helped people.”

Shmuel’s brother, Moshe, told Channel 14 that he would always immediately jump into action the moment he was needed.

“He goes first anywhere he’s needed,” Moshe said, adding that he would not hesitate to approach anyone he thought might need his help.

“He was the light of the house,” Shmuel’s sister, Esther, said in the same interview. “He always took care of people and supported us. He gave emotional and financial support to anyone who needed it.”

Yafit Taganya, Shmuel’s aunt wrote on Facebook that he was “the family’s light, safety and resilience.”

She described him as an optimistic man who was ready for anything and found solutions to every challenge he faced.

At the funeral, Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi said that Shmuel spent his life caring for Holocaust survivors, distributing food packages to the needy, and caring for the community’s youth.

“Even on his last day, Shmuel protected people and tried to save them while fighting and driving,” he said.

Shmuel was born in Ethiopia and made aliyah with his family at the age of eight. At the time of his death, he was living in Sderot and serving on the city’s police force.

Read more Those We Have Lost stories here.