Hagai, father of Master Sergeant Asaf Cafri who fell in battle in Gaza, received the news of his son’s death while in Germany with his 96-year-old Holocaust survivor grandmother.
Hagai, father of Master Sergeant Asaf Cafri who fell in battle in Gaza, received the news of his son’s death while in Germany, on the way to the Bergen-Belsen camp with his 96-year-old Holocaust survivor grandmother, Magda Baratz.
Asaf was Magda’s eldest great-grandson, and she had insisted on marking her victory over the Nazis in Germany during Holocaust Memorial Day this year. “They had a very special bond,” Hagai was quoted as saying on Kan 11 News.
As soon as the two landed, Hagai’s wife, Yifat, delivered the devastating news of Asaf’s death. Asaf had been serving in the reserves as a tank driver in the “Hamachatz” Brigade.
“Everything is so vibrant and beautiful outside, but in our hearts, everything is dark,” Hagai said. “You can’t convey to people how this feels. He had already planned to get married. Only 26—and everything is almost, almost. This is a price that whoever is up there needs to think about carefully. 850 of our sons have been killed. A boy with a big heart, a great soul, a connector of people.”
Asaf, who lived in Beit Hashmonai, was a fourth-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors. An outstanding student, he made a point to participate in school memorial ceremonies. On October 7, he was immediately enlisted to reservist duty and continued fighting even after his younger brother, Yoav, was seriously injured in Khan Yunis and is still in rehabilitation.
Asaf was described as a man full of joy, who went to the reserves wholeheartedly with a sense of mission to defend the country. It was also said that he told his family that the lives of the children in the Gaza envelope were more important than his own.“He truly believed that,” they said.
His funeral will be held on Sunday at the Gezer Regional Council cemetery.
