‘A symbol of peace’: Mourners pay last respects to slain hostage Uriel Baruch

By Jessica Steinberg

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

19 October 2025, 1:24 pm

Edit

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Family and friends mourn at the funeral of slain hostage Uriel Baruch, in Jerusalem on October 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Racheli Baruch, the widow of slain hostage Uriel Baruch, whose body was returned to Israel last week, eulogizes her husband at his funeral in Jerusalem.

She says she began writing his eulogy on October 13, 2023, after hearing that his friend, Michel Yoav, was murdered while they fled the Nova music festival together. In March 2024 Israeli authorities determined that Baruch had been killed on October 7 and his body taken captive.

Racheli speaks of their love and their six years of their marriage, which included their young son, Ofek.

“You have no idea how much I’ll miss you,” says Baruch. “How much I’ll miss your silliness. I can’t understand how I’m supposed to go on from here. How is a 31-year-old woman supposed to carry the title widow? How were our lives cut short like this? We still had so many plans! It’s going to be so hard without you.”

She describes Baruch as a “playful soul who wanted to devour life,” thanks him for all he taught her, for the amazing people who surround them, for their son who resembles him so much, for choosing her.

Uriel’s brother, Roee Baruch, says he never gave up on the fight to bring his body home.

“People told me so many times, ‘Enough, rest, move on,'” says Baruch. “But Uriel, I want you to know — I never gave up on you, not for a single second. Even when it seemed hopeless, even when everything was total darkness, I kept going and didn’t stop — because you are my brother, and I will never, ever give up on my brother.”

He says his brother, whom he calls Badalu, has become a brother to all the people of Israel.

“People everywhere, across the country and around the world, prayed, hoped, embraced, supported, and cried with us,” he says. “Everyone feels like they knew you. You’ve become a symbol of peace, love, hope, and unity.”

His mother, Naomi Baruch, says she never imagined a moment like this, “not with you wrapped in a flag inside a coffin, not buried in the ground. I imagined the moment when I would run to embrace you, hold you close to my heart so it could finally heal.”