Slava Giler, 25: Partygoer was a ‘handsome and smiling kid’

Yaroslav “Slava” Giler, 25, from Karmiel, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He attended the rave with a group of friends, including Steven Makarchenko, who was murdered along with his girlfriend, Alisia Levin, and Roni Kriboy, who was kidnapped by Hamas and freed in November 2023.

Slava was last heard from around 8 a.m. that morning. Five days later, his family was informed that his body had been identified.

He was buried in Karmiel on October 12. He is survived by his mother Yelena and his brother Sasha.

At age 6, Slava arrived at the Karmiel Youth Village, where he remained for the next 12 years, as his family was unable to raise him. While living there he attended the Adam Chevra v’Teva High School in Karmiel.

“He grew up with another 11 children who became his brothers and sisters, and here he grew up and transformed from a kid to a successful, mature and handsome teen,” the youth village wrote in a post on Facebook.

“After 12 years that Slava grew up in the village he went on his own way but he always stayed in touch with the youth village and visited and lived in the soldiers’ dorms,” the school added. “A handsome and smiling kid… in our dreams we saw Slava blossoming and succeeding, building a family… Slava’s memory will be in our hearts forever.”

His former teacher, Nir Bosco, wrote online describing him as “Slava of sunshine and thunder, Slava of the heavens… Slava of the world.”

He shared a poem that Slava once penned in school, where he wrote of “To rise, to arrive, to live, to move; to decide, to come closer, to join, to finish; to get to know, to start, to influence, to arrive; to survive. To return, to decide, to quit, to drink, to smoke; to go out, to do, to stop; to enter, to prefer, to be; to love. To decide, to tell, to share; to part, to join up; to develop, to succeed; to stay.”

Friends of Slava said he was fun-loving and supportive, loved music festivals and was dedicated to physical fitness, spending hours in the gym.

His friend Saray Afuta wrote on Facebook that Slava “was something special, you were all love. We had so many experiences together. My friend forever! My heart is broken.”

Another friend, Daniela Gandi, wrote on his Facebook wall that the pair “matured in the trance scene together, and I’ll keep growing and you’ll stay by my side forever, my dear friend.”

“Thank you for wonderful years of crazy friendship,” she added. “I appreciate everything you did… I love you to the heavens and back. Watch over our friends and your family as you know how.”

Shiraz Britch, who did national service at the Karmiel Youth Village while Slava was a student, recalled in a Facebook post how he was chosen one year to dance in the Memorial Day ceremony at school.

“I saw the light in your beautiful eyes and I was excited along with you,” she wrote. “It wasn’t a given that you would feel safe and open enough to try new things like this – but the truth is you were always a brave kid.”

Shiraz suggested that “perhaps there began the seeds of your love for dances – dances that you danced until the day you died.”

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