Yitzhak Levy, 26: Aspiring social worker with ‘friends of all stripes’

Yitzhak Levy, 26, from Beit Shemesh, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He attended the rave with two friends, Yehuda Becher and Abigael Guedj. When the attack began, the three of them fled via car while coming under fire from terrorists.

Abigael told Channel 12 news that Yehuda was shot dead first while driving, and Yitzhak tried to grab the steering wheel but was soon also shot dead. Hamas terrorists kidnapped Abigael and shoved her into the trunk of a vehicle and began to head for the Gaza border — but they were killed by IDF soldiers and Abigael was rescued.

Yitzhak was buried in Jerusalem, alongside Yehuda, on October 15. He is survived by his parents, Yaakov and Tzipora, and his eight siblings.

Yitzhak was born to French immigrant parents and raised in a large ultra-Orthodox family as part of the Breslov Hasidic community. The fourth-oldest child, Yitzhak’s family lived first in Safed, then in Gush Etzion and later in Beit Shemesh, according to an online memorial page.

He attended ultra-Orthodox schools, although when he struggled to find himself there his family sent him for a period to study in yeshiva in France, where he lived in Paris and later Lyon before returning to Israel around age 18. He lived for a period with his grandparents in Netanya, and then settling in Jerusalem, renting an apartment in the Nahlaot neighborhood.

Though he left behind the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle, he remained close with his family, his parents said, as well as to elements of observant life, including visiting Uman, Ukraine on Rosh Hashana. Yitzhak worked as a counselor with an organization for at-risk youth, which encouraged him to pursue higher education, and he began a college prep academy linked to the Hadassah Academic College aimed at eventually training as a social worker.

“YItzhak was special,” his younger brother, Avi, told a local news outlet. “He was loved by people and he loved people in a way unique to him. He always connected to people who were hard to connect to. You could see it in his surroundings, that everyone was very different. He had Hasidic friends and the crowd he’d go to festivals with. Friends of all stripes.”

Avi said his older brother “knew how to accept every person, he didn’t care who they were or what they did, he was interested in their soul and the person. That’s what connected him to people.” In the period before his death, Avi said Yitzhak started school, “invested in his degree and really invested in himself.”

He loved the outdoors, “loved the earth that God gave us, for him it was a gift, and so was life. Yitzhak also loved animals and would take care of them,” Avi said. “Whenever I would look at him I remember I saw a person who was very connected to nature. As my big brother, he was a role model for me.”

Writing on Facebook, his cousin, Yohanna, marked six months “without your voice, smile, wisdom, beauty, compassion, kindness, uniqueness, humanity, modesty, caring, empathy, tenderness, innocence and your gaze.”

On what would have been his 27th birthday, Yohanna wrote that she hopes “you are in a better and happier place, sitting with Papi, Gil, Yehuda and everyone you loved and who loved you back… You won’t get to see 27, but thank you for all the 26 years you gave us, our beautiful boy. I love you forever and I’ll miss you forever.”

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