JERUSALEM (VINnews) — An Israeli man who struggled for nearly three years with the loss of his girlfriend in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on the Nova music festival was found dead Sunday at her gravesite in what family members described as an apparent suicide, according to Israeli news outlet Walla.
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Bar Asraf, 30, of Sha’arei Tikva, was discovered after relatives began searching for him when he left a family wedding celebration. His family told Walla that he was found at the grave of his girlfriend, Liron Barda, and that emergency responders were unable to revive him.
Relatives told Walla that Asraf had struggled to cope with Barda’s death despite appearing to family and friends to be moving forward with his life. His sister said he regularly visited Barda’s grave, remained close to her family and never recovered from her loss.
Barda worked as the bar manager at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. According to accounts from her family and friends, she remained at the scene during the Hamas-led assault to provide first aid to wounded festivalgoers before she was killed.
Asraf’s family described the couple as childhood companions whose friendship grew into a close relationship. They said he honored Barda’s memory with a tattoo and stayed in regular contact with her family after her death.
His relatives also told Walla that Asraf attempted to drive toward the Nova festival during the Oct. 7 attack in hopes of reaching Barda but was turned back before arriving.
The tragedy has renewed attention to the lasting psychological impact of the Oct. 7 attack. Shiran Maor, chairman of the Israeli trauma support organization SafeHeart, said in a statement that trauma affects not only survivors but also partners, relatives and close friends who continue to cope with profound loss.
The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and resulted in the abduction of roughly 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The Nova music festival was among the hardest-hit locations, where hundreds of attendees were killed and dozens were taken hostage.
The hard part is there is no accountability on what the failure was in intelligence for this devastating attack. There has to be independent investigation and clearly some are afraid of that.
i feel their pain i will pray for both of them .
Ay! We and and the state failed this poor individual who thought he had no way out.
Can we trully say: Yadeinu lo shofchu…?
Poor people. Both. So so sad and heart-breaking.
Why can’t people keep 2 different thoughts in ones head?
1. Suicide is murder and against the torah.
2. There is somewhat of a pitur for actions done when in tzar (which likely this person was in)
may his family be comforted in their loss. it is tragic that he would do such a thing. while his pain was unbearable, the last thing his girlfriend would have wanted was for him to harm himself.
I’m pretty convinced that the Nova festival was largely attended by emotionally unhealthy people.
Sometimes suicide is a mitzvah. How many times in crusades did Jews commit suicide rather than convert. They not only killed themselves but killed out their whole family first. Many stories like that. For the three major sins one must give up his life.
Very sad. May his family have consolation. At least now he is at peace.
This very sad story amplifies the tragedy of zionism that set out to create a nation like all nations and to rip out the torah from generations of Jews. Oh, what a travesty, and now they’re coming after the last vestiges who hold fast to our great Creator, intending to rip them away as well. Hashem yerachem.
Yes suicide is murder but sometimes it’s permitted. King Saul committed suicide as not to be tortured by the enemies. There are people with serious mental problems and their suicide is not condemned. Like for example an Israeli soldier has a share in the world to come stated Avigdor Miller. That doesn’t mean Zionism is not a movement to destroy Judaism.
Another victim of secular Zionism. Had they been raised in the ways of the Torah they would have both been spared from this tragedy.