Shahak Madar, 26: Hospitality student with an ‘innocent optimism’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova festival on October 7
Shahak “Shasho” Yosef Madar, 26, from Dimona, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He attended the rave that weekend with a group of friends from Dimona, including Liam Bor Galon, who was also slain that day, and Segev Kalfon, who was taken hostage and is still believed to be held captive in Gaza.
For more than a week, his family searched desperately for any sign of him, before they were informed that his body had been identified.
Shahak was buried in Dimona on October 15. He is survived by his parents, Merav and Doron, and his siblings Ofri, Carmel, Tomer, Or and Zohar.
Born and raised in Dimona as the oldest of six siblings, Shahak was an active youth leader, according to a state eulogy. During his mandatory army service he served in the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion.
After his release, he got a job at the Dead Sea Works company to save up money, before embarking on a nearly yearlong trip around the world, traveling through India and South and Central America. After returning to Israel, he went back to work at Dead Sea Works to save up for his studies, which he began in 2022.
Shahak was pursuing a degree in hospitality and tourism at Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, and was slated to begin his second year just a couple weeks after he was slain.
His close friend, Ofek Caspi, wrote on Facebook about “the man and the huge smile, which captivates the world in a second. Your presence is so very missed, my brother.”
“Everyone knows that there’s no such thing as Ofek without Shahak and Shahak without Ofek, some people saw as as one person — and it will stay that way, my brother, you will always be part of me,” he wrote. “As you would say, we’re like ying and yang, we balance and complete each other and together we were the perfect duo.”
“You were a little more crazy and optimistic, and I’m a little more rational,” he said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to bring down your innocent optimism as always, although it certainly wouldn’t have helped and you would have offered your famous ‘it’s all good.’… We were so looking forward to this year, we planned so many things, where did you go, my brother? We didn’t finish our list of dreams. I’m happy I had the privilege of growing up beside you, crossing continents with you and conquering the world, experiencing the best moments in life.”
His sister, Ofri, wrote on Facebook, “My Shasho — I’m proud of you.”
“I’m proud of the accomplishments you achieved, the dreams you reached, the goals you stormed, but mostly — the person you were,” she wrote. “I promise to smile for the good and not just for your sake, to live as if you’re holding my hand in my imagination, and to be strengthened in the belief that you are always watching over me.”
Ofri pointed out that in the Dimona cemetery where Shahak is buried, “there is one unique gravestone, pointed toward the sky, that at a certain point of the day its edge blends with the sun because the person buried there is a huge light.”