Sivan Shaarbany, 21: Curly-haired partygoer who loved salt & pepper

Sivan Shaarbany, 21, from Ramat Gan, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

She attended the rave with her friend Rotem Levi, who was also murdered that day.

She was buried on October 16 in Petah Tikva. She is survived by her parents, Karen and Effi, and her younger brother.

On her funeral notice, her family requested that mourners “not arrive in black clothing,” in order to celebrate her colorful and joyous nature.

Sivan was remembered particularly for her love of salt and pepper, adding them to all of her meals as well as carrying mini shakers around with her at all times. Several of her friends and family members got salt and pepper shaker tattoos in her memory. She nicknamed the two spices, “joy” and “happiness,” which caught on among her loved ones.

During her mandatory military service, she served in the Israeli Navy as an observation soldier stationed in Rosh Hanikra next to the Lebanon border. She was released in December 2022, and spent months traveling around South America before returning home not long before she was killed.

Her friend Maayan Dee wrote on Instagram, “Sivan was the happiest person I met, she never passed up an opportunity and always caused those around her to smile.” Recalling making empanadas with her in Argentina during their travels, Dee said Sivan was “frustrated that they weren’t as pretty as she expected, but they were the tastiest empanadas of the whole trip. We were waiting to meet up in Israel and make tons of empanadas for friends, and I can’t believe it won’t happen with her next to me.”

Her friend Sapir Chalfon wrote online that she wanted to tell the world “about the good in you, so they know how good and pure your soul was. At all times and all places you added flavor — joy and happiness.”

“Everyone who knows you knows the phrase ‘joy and happiness,’ not just the flavors you brought into our lives but also to your food. You called pepper ‘joy’ and salt ‘happiness.’ Everywhere you went you had little bags of salt and pepper in case you ate something… you didn’t just call them that, you loved the flavor of life in every moment, until your last moment.”

“Thank you for the important life lesson that you left me — to live a happy and joyous life, a full life of fulfillment and passion every moment, and of course salt and pepper, little details that forever remind me of huge experiences by your side.”

Writing on Facebook, her aunt, Yael Nadav, recalled being there since “you were a little peanut until you danced your final journey.”

“From a little curly-haired girl to a tall and impressive young girl, from a girl to a young woman who turned heads in every room she entered, finishing middle and high school, enlisting, being released, your big trip and your surprise return home — at every stage of your life I was there, the aunt who pushes her way in,” wrote Nadav.

“I didn’t even miss the minute you put on your [IDF] uniform and immediately came to show it off, [asked] what to eat and what meat is the tastiest, so many shared experiences, holidays and events, and now you are no longer here and we are all longing for you,” she added. “You finished this chapter too early when you had so many more plans. I have no way to sum up 21 years Sivani, I love you and I won’t say goodbye. I’m leaving space to dream about you, come and visit.”

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