Dear Yarden Bibas Our hearts are broken; we cry together with you

On Thursday, the world witnessed in horror as the bodies of Oded Lifshitz, Kfir and Ariel Bibas were paraded by Hamas through jeering crowds, before finally, finally, being brought back home, to us, to Israel. (According to the IDF, the 4th body is not of Shiri Bibas but a person who’s identity is unknown.) Since the shocking and barbaric massacre on October 7th, our hearts have been broken more times than we can count, and today our hearts are shattered once again. The Bibas family, with their adorable red-headed children, took up residence in our hearts and minds. We prayed for them, we were worried for them, we couldn’t stop thinking about these toddlers and their mother in the tunnels of Gaza.

And now, our hearts are with Yarden, their father, who returned from Gaza just a short time ago.

Dear Yarden,

Words fail us.

We want to share your great pain, to say something that will ease it, but we know we cannot.

If we could, we would offer you a hug and say, “Yarden, you are our dear brother. We love you forever. Your wife, Shiri, is our sister, your children, Kfir and Ariel, are our children. We will forever love all of you.”

For the past year and a half, we never stopped thinking about, hoping, and praying for you and your family. We will continue to pray for you, and we will continue to remember and honor the holy souls of your family. Please know that hundreds of thousands of people all around the world did mitzvot for you and your family, and we will continue to do so.

The souls of your dear family will continue to shine bright.

When words fail us, we fall back on the traditional text said by Jews for generations:

“May the Omnipresent comfort you among all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”

The Chabad.org Team

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Dear readers, the international Chabad.org community:

Please join us in sharing your condolences with the Bibas and Lifshitz families and memorializing their loved ones, whom we have all come to love and care for. Please leave a message for them in the comment section below, sharing what they have come to mean to you, your words of comfort, and please accept upon yourself a mitzvah you can do in their memory.

(For ideas of mitzvahs you can do, please see Sending Love Packages to Deceased Loved Ones and 14 Jewish Ways to Honor the Soul of a Deceased Loved One. Also, we recommend reading Fragmented Thoughts of a Broken Heart, which expresses what so many of us may be feeling, and watching this video of a man being named for Kfir and Ariel today in Israel.)