Bruria Zer-Aviv

Oct 4, 2003 - Bruria Zer-Aviv, 59, of Kibbutz Yagur was one of 21 people killed in a suicide bombing carried out by a female terrorist from Jenin in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast devastated the restaurant, of joint Jewish-Arab ownership, on Hahagana Boulevard near the southern entrance of the coastal city. It was packed mostly with regular Saturday customers. The bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old lawyer from Jenin, managed to get past Maxim's security guard before blowing herself up in the middle of the restaurant. The security guard, an Israeli Arab, was killed in the attack, along with three other Israeli Arab employees of the restaurant. The victims included five members of the Almog family from Haifa and five members of the Zer-Aviv family from Kibbutz Yagur. Four children were killed and 60 people were wounded in the bombing.

The Zer-Aviv family had gone shopping in Haifa and went to Maxim for lunch. Bruria, her son, Bezalel, daughter-in-law Keren, grandson, Liran, and granddaughter, Noya, were eating when the blast killed them.

The Zer-Aviv family came to Yagur 18 years ago. Algerian-born Freddy Zer-Aviv, an orthopedist at the Bnei Zion Hospital in Haifa, met Bruria Orman, who was born in Haifa and grew up in Netanya, at the Kupat Holim medical clinic where they both worked. In 1973, their eldest son, Bezalel, was born and that year, they decided to move to France. They lived in Nice until 1982, and their two daughters, Sophie and Gabi, were born there. In 1982, the family moved back to Israel and in 1984, they joined Kibbutz Yagur, looking for a pastoral life. Bruria, who could often be seen with her grandchildren at the playground, worked in the children's houses, in the archive and also as a sales manager at the Yad Lemaginim catering hall.

Kibbutz members of all generations struggled to deal with the tragedy. "If one person is killed, you have the accepted norms of what to do," said Shlomit Atzmon, a neighbor of Bruria's and a colleague of Keren's. "When an entire family is killed... you mourn for all five, you feel all five of them in your heart and you have five times as much fear." Bruria Zer-Aviv was buried with her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren in the Kibbutz Yagur Cemetery. She is survived by her husband and two daughters, Sophie, 28, and Gabi, 25.