Sahar Ashuan, 22: Kibbutz worker ‘found beauty in every moment’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7
Sahar Ashuan, 22, from Afula, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He attended the rave with a group of friends, including Liav Asayag and Dvir Rahamim. At the start of the rocket fire, he told his family that the festival was being canceled and he was on his way home.
While trying to leave, however, they came across those who had been wounded and tried to help. At 8:43 a.m. he told his friends that “you won’t believe what’s happening here, they blew up the party, hit cars with RPGs, there are tons of wounded people.” But seven minutes later, he told his family: “Everything’s fine, it’ll be over soon and we’ll leave here.”
His family never heard from him again. For a week he was considered missing until his family was notified that his body had been found. Liav and Dvir were also murdered that day, while two other friends managed to escape and survive.
Sahar was buried in Netanya on October 14, 10 days before his 23rd birthday. He is survived by his parents, Sima and Babar, and his older sister, Eden.
Born and raised in Afula, Sahar was known best for his bashful smile, according to a memorial website. At age 13 he insisted on having his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall, his family said, setting out on a bus from Afula at 5 a.m. for the festivities.
After finishing high school, Sahar enlisted in the IDF and served in the Combat Engineering Corps. Following his release, he started studying UI/UX and was interested in the field of graphic arts, but at the same time started working in Kibbutz Yir’on in the Galilee through the Hashomer Hachadash’s agricultural program.
The organization said that “despite the physically challenging work, Sahar found beauty in every moment – photographed sunrises in the orchards, enjoying the nature he loved and spreading joy around him.”
His family said Sahar loved to live in the moment, enjoyed cooking, loved animals, exploring nature and hiking trails, and was always surrounded by music.
His older sister, Eden, wrote on Facebook in November 2023, marking five weeks “without calling you ‘kid’ and hearing you call me ‘monkey.’ Without your embrace, without seeing you.”
She recalled seeing him just hours before he left for the festival, and “your loving and enveloping hug that I will never find a replacement for, and never get to feel again.”
“You are missing at family meals, you’re missing in the conversations we’d have at night, you’re missing at home,” Eden wrote. “Your room still smells like you, your shoes are sitting in their place, your bag is organized for another week on the kibbutz… but you, you’ll never return to this room again.”
Sahar’s mother, Sima, wrote on social media marking 10 months “since evil took our light.”
“My child, my Sahar, you believed in good, you lived with goodness,” she wrote. “We’ll never get to feel your hug again. We promise you, our beloved child, that we will walk in your path of goodness, of joy, of your smile and your kindness.”
