Shoham Liya Turgeman, 23, from Beit She’an, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.
She attended the rave with her boyfriend, Nir Madmon, and two of their close friends, Shani Ben Ami and Eden Abdulayev. All four of them worked together at the 2c restaurant and bar in Tel Aviv, which is where Nir and Shoham first met.
The four of them fled the site of the festival via car when the rocket fire began, and chose to seek safety in a roadside bomb shelter. There, all four of them were killed when Hamas terrorists threw grenades and opened fire on those huddled inside.
Shoham was buried in Beit She’an on October 11. She is survived by her parents, Lidia and Shimon, and her younger brother Hoshen.
She loved to travel, with pinned Instagram highlights from all of her recent destinations — Mykonos, Egypt, Portugal, Berlin, Istanbul, Sinai and more. She had tickets for October 8, 2023, for a trip to Turkey with her mother. In her apartment, her family found her suitcase packed and ready to go.
According to a memorial book, Shoham explored many extracurriculars in high school, including dance, piano and drama. In the army she served as assistant to the commander of the Jordan Valley Brigade, and toward the end of her service she was posted as a security guard at the Allenby Bridge border crossing.
After being released, Shoham moved to Tel Aviv and started working as a waitress and later manager at the 2c restaurant, where she met Nir, and was also studying in a course to be a security guard and private investigator.
Writing on Instagram, Gaya Lek, a friend of Nir and Shoham, noted that “from the moment they met until they were taken from us too soon they did not part for a moment.” The couple, she wrote, “were a true match, from the depths of their souls, just like in fairy tales. A once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.”
The pair “loved to celebrate life, to laugh and dance and be happy… We’ll remember them always in our hearts and we’ll never forget.”
Shoham’s brother, Hoshen, wrote on Instagram that “anybody who didn’t know you missed out, missed out on your incredible personality and all your inner qualities, in addition to your beauty and all the external things that couldn’t be missed.”
“Anywhere you went, anybody sitting next to you couldn’t be sad, and you couldn’t help making people happy,” he continued. “You are the best person I know… I know that no matter what, wherever you are, you’re making everyone with you happy.”
Her mother, Lidia, wrote on Facebook ahead of Memorial Day that Shoham “lit up the sun. She would shine in the morning and join the stars in the evening.”
“She gathered friends and connected everyone. She was a source of joy and love, she only spread good and dreamed of peace between everyone,” added Lidia. “Her eyes shined like sparkly crystals… Your light will shine forever, your spirit will always be among us.”
