Daniel Vadai, 27: Soccer player who was a smiling prankster
Murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7
Daniel Meir Vadai, 27, from Jerusalem, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
With the start of the attack, he sought safety in a roadside bomb shelter not far from the site of the party, and was slain there along with many others — including Hadar Hoshen, Kim Damti and Idan Herman.
He was buried on October 10 in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, Sarah and Rahamim, and his older siblings Ortal and Tomer.
Born and raised in the Pat neighborhood of Jerusalem as the youngest in the family, Daniel attended local schools, including the Kedma high school in Katamonim. From a young age he was a dedicated soccer player, playing in youth leagues for both the Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Katamon teams. But no matter which team he played for, Daniel was a sworn devotee of the Beitar Jerusalem professional team.
Two teammates he played with on Hapoel Katamon — Idan Dor and Ram Shalom — were also slain that day at the festival.
After completing high school, Daniel enlisted in the IDF, serving in the Armored Corps’ emergency storage unit at a base outside Jerusalem — serving in a special track that allowed him to continue playing soccer. Following his release, he took a big trip to South America with his friends.
Nir Reichman, who coached Daniel, told a local news outlet that “Daniel was an incredible kid, very positive. This is a huge loss. He really loved to laugh, to play pranks, there was always a smile on his face. A kid whose whole life was ahead of him.”
His close friend, Yuval Revach, described him on Instagram as “my best friend in the world, the one who got me with just a look, who knew how to deal with all my moods.”
“You’re the definition of a soul friend, a matching soul in the shape of my best friend, the one who comes in the middle of the night with food and a note that says ‘marry me’ just for laughs, the one who shows up in the middle of the night to check the oil in my car and to park it because I have no patience or I can’t do it — you would always come, always! Why aren’t you coming now?”
Daniel’s sister-in-law, Gal, wrote on Instagram marking “100 days that you’re not here, 100 days that we aren’t close to understanding what happened, 100 days of endless longing alongside questions with no answers.”
“There is no moment in the day and night that I don’t think about you, that I don’t miss you and just wanted to give you another hug and yell at you to stop annoying Yarin,” she added. “Thank you for every moment with you. I have a hole in my heart in the shape of you — and not just me, but the whole family and anyone who ever met you, even for a moment.”
