Hai Zfati, 25: Beitar Jerusalem superfan was always ‘spreading joy’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7
Hai (Haim) Zfati, 25, from Kiryat Ata, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He attended the rave with his close friend, Orel Peso. When the attack began, they tried to leave via car although soon fled on foot and sought safety inside a roadside bomb shelter.
He called his mom and begged her to send help, later sending her a video from inside the shelter and his exact GPS location. The final time they heard from him was 8 a.m.
Hai and Orel were both murdered inside the shelter when it was attacked by Hamas terrorists who fired inside and threw grenades at the partygoers.
Hai was buried in Kiryat Ata on October 10. He is survived by his parents, Hedva and Dror, his brother Ron and sister Eden.
The middle child, Hai was born in Jerusalem, and age 6 moved with his family to Kiryat Ata, near Haifa, according to a state eulogy, attending schools in nearby Kiryat Haim and Kiryat Bialik.
After graduating, he enlisted in the IDF, serving in the Givati Brigade, but early on in his service he wounded his leg and was hospitalized for six weeks, ending his army career.
Though he had lingering issues from the injury, he went to work at the Ruben burger restaurant in Kiryat Ata before then working at a shawarma restaurant and eventually returning to Ruben to manage the food department. His family said he loved being in the culinary industry and being surrounded by food.
Above all, his loved ones said, he was a superfan of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club — he had a large tattoo of its logo on his back, and the team’s symbol was engraved on his headstone. For Hai, his downtime was for music festivals and dancing, and he could be found partying to music and letting off steam most weekends.
His mother, Hedva, told a sports news site that Hai was “a passionate fan of Beitar… He was a happy kid, he had two loves in life — Beitar and dancing, and he was killed at a dance festival.”
“His love for Beitar was the only thing that interested him… I’m his mom and his big love, and Beitar was his second love,” added Hedva. “His whole room is Beitar scarves, flags, shirts.” She said that his death “is so hard, it’s a huge loss, my son is no longer with me, a flower that was plucked. We’re in shock, we’re stunned, we’re sad.”
Hai’s sister, Eden, wrote on Instagram, “My Hai — you’ll forever remain etched into my soul.”
“I love you until my bones hurt,” she added. “You were the joy, you were the light, you had the most beautiful smile, and you’re up there spreading your joy, my pure angel.”
Later Eden wrote that all she wanted was “for you to come back for one moment. Just one more time to sit with you, with a beer on the balcony. Just one more time to hug you, just a huge embrace and to never leave… I need to start my day with you, just you and me and a bottle of beer and a beautiful view, as we loved to do so much.”
