Yoad Pe’er, 21: Sneakerhead who was a true ‘people person’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists near the Supernova music festival on October 7
Yoad Pe’er, 21, from Jerusalem, was murdered by Hamas terrorists near the Supernova music festival on October 7.
Yoad attended the rave with a group of three other friends from Jerusalem, and only one of them made it home alive. Yoad was slain alongside his friend Aner Shapira, while another friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was abducted to Gaza and murdered in captivity close to a year later.
When the rocket fire began, Yoad, Aner, Hersh and Adi Kaufman left the site of the festival via car, and the four of them stopped to seek safety in a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im.
Of the 27 people who holed up inside that roadside bomb shelter, only seven were rescued alive, while 16 were murdered and four kidnapped. Yoad was slain along with many others when the terrorists threw grenades inside the shelter and opened fire on those huddled inside.
He was buried in Nes Harim on October 10. He is survived by his parents, Tali and David, sister Shahar and brother Yotam.
Born and raised in Jerusalem, he attended schools in the city and was always surrounded by friends, according to a state eulogy. He loved good food and travel both inside and outside Israel, and got to live one of his dreams of seeing the northern lights in Lapland, Finland, and riding a snowmobile there.
He was a “sneakerhead” who loved to collect shoes and was always looking to buy a new pair, even if they all looked the same to his parents. He also loved music of all kinds, especially belting out Mizrahi tunes while in the shower, his family said. It was important to Yoad to serve in a combat role in the IDF, and he worked out with the Xpert combat fitness group to raise his profile before enlisting in the Nahal Brigade.
Yoad completed his military service in August 2023, just two months before he was slain. His family said he spent the time since working, exercising and planning a “big trip” abroad, after which he intended to return to Israel and study law and business management.
“The thing that most characterized him was that he was a people person,” his mother, Tali, said in a memorial video. “He just loved people, and they loved him a lot… He had an incredible ability to love others and to accept them unconditionally. He gave that unique feeling to so many people, who really saw him as a true friend and a keeper of secrets.”
“I miss his presence, I miss that feeling that he is here,” she added. “If I could meet him now, I’d sit him down on the couch and I’d embrace him and I’d stick to him… I’d tell him that I love him forever, that I’m proud of who he is and what he is, and I would do what I wanted to do but didn’t do when he left for the party — I would stand in the doorway and God himself wouldn’t be able to move me.”
