Petru Boscov, 35: Moldovan caregiver was like 'family' to patient

Murdered on October 7 in Kibbutz Holit alongside his charge Moshe Ridler

Petru Boscov, 35, a Moldovan caregiver living in Israel, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Holit on October 7.

Petru was working as an aide to 91-year-old Moshe Ridler, a Holocaust survivor and great grandfather. They were both killed that day.

He is survived by his wife, Aliona, and three daughters, ages 9, 7 and 3.

A reporter for the Global News in Canada visiting the kibbutz weeks later noted that Petru’s “Moldovan passport and Israeli entry card, dated Sept. 9, 2022, were on the kitchen counter, with a few shekels and an Aeroflot boarding pass for a flight from Chisnau to Tel Aviv.”

Moshe’s daughter, Pnina Hendler, said Petru, who was able to speak to Moshe in his native Romanian, “became one of the family.”

Yoav Boukay, the community manager of Holit, wrote on Facebook that Moshe and Petro were his “barometer” for deciding how long to keep the kibbutz pool open each year.

“In the afternoons I would look out the window of the meeting room onto the street leading away from the pool. I would regularly see Moshe Ridler, the oldest resident of Holit, together with Petru Boscov, his devoted caregiver, returning from the pool,” wrote Boukay. “I knew them well from their daily walk to the post office and the market. Walking slowly, Moshe with his walker, them both saying hi to everyone. I formed a rule — as long as Moshe was using the pool, it would stay open.”

Petru’s wife, Aliona, told a local Moldovan news site that she found out he had been murdered only two days later.

Aliona said the couple had dreamed of buying their own home for their young family, which spurred Petru’s decision to seek higher-paying work abroad: “We wanted to make a better future for them, to buy a house of our own. However, he died, and now I have come to think that I have to go abroad. But how can I leave my girls?”

Aliona said that his death is “very painful, even now I can’t believe that my husband is not there. I’m still waiting for him to call, for him to come home. Our youngest girl asks the most often where he is.”