Sharona Harel, 40: Devoted mother who brought ‘spice’ and color

Sharona Harel, 40, from Rishon Lezion, was murdered at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

She is survived by her parents, Shimon and Ella, two siblings, Tal and Liran, her husband, Yotam, and two children, Alma and Rom.

Harel attended the event with several friends to celebrate her 40th birthday. On the morning of the attack, she and another friend managed to get into the car and drive a short distance away before terrorists began shooting at them, forcing both to get out and run.

They ran in different directions, and Harel ran toward the police command center. She was seen in photos on social media hiding with dozens of others inside the police station.

At 9 a.m., she texted her husband, saying, “They’re shooting at me; I’m hiding.” That was the last anyone heard. Harel was declared missing for several days, and her family took great pains to find her. Her brother-in-law, Ohad Harel, was interviewed on several news stations to publicize her name and picture.

However, on October 16, the family was notified of her death, and she was buried the following day at the Ganei Esther cemetery in Rishon Lezion.

Harel was an interior designer, and loved ones described her as a “spicy” and colorful person who loved music and dancing.

Family was incredibly important to Harel. Loved ones told Israeli media outlets that she was “first and foremost an exemplary mother to her children…warm [and] caring, and a wonderful wife to her husband, Yotam.”

“My beautiful [wife], thank you for the two treasures you left me, [Rom and Alma], who will know every day what a wonderful mother they had,” Yotam wrote on Facebook on November 22 in honor of what would have been the couple’s 11th anniversary.

“I promise you that I will do everything to take care of them and raise the children in the best way [possible], the way you would have wanted them to grow up. We miss you so much.”

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