Noam Leibowitz

June 17, 2003 - Noam Leibowitz, 7, of Yemin Orde was killed and three members of her family wounded in a shooting attack near the Kibbutz Eyal junction on the Trans-Israel Highway.

In the first terrorist shooting on the Trans-Israel Highway, a terrorist managed to get under a cement wall separating the highway from Kalkilya, and opened fire at the Leibowitz car at around 11:30 P.M. Eight members of the family were in the vehicle, returning home from a bar mitzva celebration in Jerusalem. The terrorist first fired at the driver, then sprayed the rear window. Noam Leibowitch was killed. Her sister, Shira, who celebrated her third birthday that day, was seriously wounded. Noam's 11-year-old brother Moshe and 70-year-old grandfather sustained light injuries.

The family, originally from Netanya, returned to Israel three years ago after spending several years in the United States. Shlomo Leibowitz was appointed deputy director of the Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village, a religious boarding school on the Carmel, and his wife Galit is a teacher there. The entire family lived in the village, and their home was open to everyone.

Noam's father Shlomo spoke at the funeral of the enormous hole her death has left, of her joyfulness and her ready smiles. He related that on the way home from the bar mitzva Tuesday night, Noam had sung a song from the 2nd grade graduation party she was missing because of the trip to Jerusalem. "When I asked her why she was singing, she replied that when she sang, the other children always sang louder," he said. Noam's mother said, "Noam always took care of Shira. Now who will take care of Noam?"

Chaim Peri, the director of Yemin Orde, said that everyone there knew Noam, who was a happy girl - "a small girl with a large soul." Noam was laid to rest on the day on which the Youth Village was to have celebrated its 50th anniversary as well as annual graduation ceremony. The celebrations, for which many guest had arrived from abroad, were postponed. Among the participants in the funeral were also people from the nearby Arab villages who know Shlomo Leibowitz from their joint efforts to promote peaceful coexistence.

Noam Leibowitz was buried in Moshav Nir Etzion cemetery. She is survived by her parents, Shlomo and Galit, her brother, two sisters, and grandparents, Miriam and Shmuel Eliad.