Itay Svirsky, 38: Life coach and doting uncle with ‘a heart of gold’

Itay Svirsky, 38, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was kidnapped from his childhood home on October 7, 2023, and taken to the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists.

His parents, Orit and Rafi, were both murdered in Be’eri on October 7, his mother in front of his eyes.

Itay was killed in January 2024, the IDF said, assessing that while Hamas claimed he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, they believe he was murdered by his captors days after Yossi Sharabi, also kidnapped by Be’eri, was killed as a result of an IDF strike.

Itay’s body was recovered by the IDF from Gaza in December 2024. He was buried in Kibbutz Be’eri, between the grave of his two parents, on December 6, 2024, almost a year after he was killed.

He is survived by his three siblings, Merav, Yonatan and Yuval. His 96-year-old grandmother, Aviva Sela, survived the Be’eri attack, while her caretaker, Grace Cabrera, was murdered.

During some of his time in captivity, Itay was held with Noa Argamani, who was rescued by IDF troops in June 2024. Noa wrote on social media after his body was recovered, describing their “shared time together in captivity, in which we imagined a thousand scenarios how we’d return to Israel together, how we’d meet up for coffee after everything was over and laugh about everything.”

Noa thanked Itay for “every one of our shared moments together. You were a friend, you were a big brother amid that dark place. You taught me so many things that I will take with me no matter where I go.”

Itay was born in Be’eri, the third of Orit and Rafi’s three children, entering the world just a few months after his parents settled in the kibbutz where his mother had grown up, the daughter of two of its founders, according to a kibbutz eulogy.

He was a sporty youth, playing mini basketball, tennis and soccer, and was a sworn fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv — attending as many games as he could. As an adult, he picked up Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as Thai boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA), taking part in regular trainings. Itay was also musically talented, taking voice lessons and learning to play the guitar and the piano.

After finishing high school, Itay enlisted in the IDF, serving in the Israeli Air Force’s air traffic control division. Following his release, Itay traveled to India, and upon his return, he bounced between Tel Aviv and Be’eri. In 2010 he began a degree in psychology and philosophy at Tel Aviv University, later switching to study economics and ultimately finishing with a generalized BA before continuing to a master’s in business management.

In later years he became interested in the “Satya” method of life coaching, taking a course to be qualified as a coach and starting to take on others as clients. He remained deeply connected to his family, a doting uncle to his nephews, a caring son and grandson, the heart and life of every family gathering and a regular visitor in Be’eri almost every weekend.

His aunt, Osnat Sela Weinberg, wrote in a eulogy that his whole time in captivity, “I imagined you totally alive, with us, returning, rehabilitating, making up the hours and days as uncle in the way only you know how to be… talking for hours to Meravi and Yonatan and Yuval… I saw you in a relationship, embraced and embracing with love… I saw your clinic prospering because who wouldn’t feel like anything was possible in your presence.”

“I imagined you sitting with Grandma on the swing, offering her a cup of coffee as you always did with dedication, patience and endless generosity… sitting with her at sunset and telling her what’s in your heart,” Osnat added. “You were so attentive and sensitive and empathetic and respectful, with a heart of gold.”

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