Yehoshua Hatav, 66: Devoted grandfather and retired military man

Yehoshua Hatav, 66, from Ashkelon, was killed after he was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza at the city on October 7. He died of his wounds four days later, on October 11, 2023.

His family said Yehoshua debated attending synagogue that morning amid the rocket fire, but decided to do so since the building had a bomb shelter. On the way home from prayers he was severely wounded by a rocket impact. He was hospitalized in intensive care at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for three days before succumbing to his wounds.

Yehoshua was buried in Ashkelon on October 11. He is survived by his wife, Rachel, their twin daughters, Adi and Revital, several grandchildren — including two more sets of twins — and his five siblings, Uziel, Yaakov, Yehuda, Yair and Yael.

Born in Kfar Yehoshua in the Jezreel Valley, Yehoshua lived there for a number of years until his family moved to Moshav Berechya near Ashkelon, according to a state eulogy, attending religious schools growing up.

In 1974 he enlisted in the IDF, serving on the Tel Nof airbase as a purchasing manager. He pursued a military career, remaining in the army until his retirement after almost 30 years, in 2003. After he left the army, Yehoshua managed a technical sales center for a tool repair company and later worked as a machine technician.

He and Rachel married in 1986 and settled in Ashkelon, where they raised their twin daughters. Over the years he welcomed his seven grandchildren — including two born less than two weeks before he was killed — doting on them and adapting to the role of grandfather with ease.

In a post marking Memorial Day, his daughter, Adi, wrote about “seven months during which the memory doesn’t heal.”

“I always think what you would have said to me, what advice you would have given me, what creative solution you would have found for my problem,” she added. “For seven months I am asking you and there’s no answer, Dad. I feel your loss so strongly, we need you so much by our side… thank you Dad for the privilege of being your daughter. Thank you for being the perfect grandfather for our children.”

His other daughter, Revital, wrote on Facebook on what would have been his 67th birthday, saying that she was “sure that any moment you’ll walk in the door with a bunch of bags from the supermarket and ask me if you should put a can of cola in the freezer so it will be cold in time for our dinner together.”

She still imagines, she wrote, “You asking me what’s going on with the children and giving me a several-minute speech about how I shouldn’t get angry at them and I’m lucky to have good kids… and at the end of the conversation always noting that when we come, the girls should go to your drawer because you bought them the tasty treats they love.”

After his death, she said, they opened the notes app on his phone, “and saw a list of tasks for every day, so you’d never miss anything,” planning for Shabbat already on Sunday, she wrote. “It’s hard to describe a man like you in words. I wish to myself that I can be to my kids just a drop of what you were for me.”

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