During the October 7 terrorist attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, five members of Sivan’s family were murdered: her brother, Yaniv Zohar; his wife, Yasmin; their daughters, Keshet and Tehelet; and Haim Livne, Yasmin’s father and the grandfather of Keshet, Tehelet, and Ariel.
Ariel, Yaniv and Yasmin’s son, was just 13 years old at the time. He was the only member of his immediate family to survive. In a single day, he lost his parents, his two sisters, and his grandfather.
Since October 7, Ariel has lived with his aunt Ayelet Cohen, Yaniv’s sister, who adopted him and made her home his home. Sivan has also been there to surround Ariel with love and support and help him navigate a new reality — all while carrying the weight of her own devastating loss.
But for Sivan, the tragedy of October 7 did not end on that day.
Nearly three years have passed, and she is still struggling to find her way back to the life she knew before her brother and his family were murdered. The magnitude of the loss, and everything that followed, has made returning to a normal routine extraordinarily difficult.
Before October 7, Sivan had built her own event production business. In the aftermath of the attack and the war, with events brought to a halt, the business stopped operating. And as time went on, the emotional toll of what happened to her family made returning to a regular working life even more difficult.
Then, just as Sivan and her family were trying to find some sense of stability, they were dealt another devastating blow.
Sivan’s husband was recently diagnosed with cancer. He has begun a prolonged course of treatment that will also include surgeries as part of his fight against the disease. Sivan, a mother of two young children, is now facing another difficult year in which much of the family’s time, strength, and energy will have to be devoted to treatments, surgeries, recovery, and caring for one another.
That is why we are asking for help now.
We are Sivan’s family and friends — the people who have stood beside her through these past three years. We have created this campaign to give Sivan and her family something they desperately need right now: breathing room.
We cannot undo what happened on October 7. We cannot bring back the people they lost. But we can help make sure that, as they face yet another crisis, Sivan and her family do not have to carry the financial burden alone.
The funds raised through this campaign will give them the ability to focus on the difficult months ahead. They will help provide stability while Sivan’s husband undergoes treatments and surgeries, give the family time and space to gradually return to work and everyday life, and ease some of the financial pressure that has accumulated after nearly three years of emotional and economic upheaval.
For almost three years, the ground beneath Sivan’s feet has never truly stopped shifting. Our hope is to give her and her family a measure of stability now — and the opportunity, when they are ready, to begin looking forward again.
The Zohar family has endured a loss that is almost impossible to put into words. Today, we are asking you to stand with Sivan and her family.
Every donation, no matter the amount, can make a meaningful difference. And every time this campaign is shared, it can reach another person willing to stand beside them.