Sergeant Shir Shlomo

Daughter of Einat (Anat) and Pinchas (Pinny)
Sister of Adi (22 years old), Tzachi (18.5 years old), and Sharon (16.5 years old)

"Shir" or "Sharshura" as her family nicknamed her, was born to her mother Anat, a medical assistant at a school and a daycare center manager in a kindergarten, and to Pinny, who used to work in a medical device factory. Today Pinny is disabled and does not work. Shir's eldest sister Adi serves her mandatory service in the air force, her brother, Tzachi, Serves in the Border Patrol and Sharon the younger brother attends school.

Shir grew up in Netanya. She attended the "Alumot" elementary school and the " S. Alterman Ort Aviation and Space School junior high. In high school, she attended the "Ort Yad Leibovich" educational campus and majored in sports, specializing in long distance running. Shir graduated with honors in all the schools she attended. In high school she received a " multidisciplinary excellency" certificate and was even certified as a gym instructor.

Shir was an overachiever and always strived for excellence. If she received a grade that she felt wat not good enough for her, she was never too lazy to retake it. She also used to help her friends who were having trouble with their studies.

Shir was gifted with outstanding diligence and did not shy away from hard work. She worked as an assistant in the kindergartens and day care centers in her city of residence. Sometimes she would work a joint shift with her mother.

The wise and kind-hearted Shir's dream was to become a doctor.

Shir joined the IDF on August 25, 2022, and completed the training course with honors. During the course, she used to guide the morning gymnastics exercises to trainees at the request of her commanders, who discovered that she was a professional athlete and a certified and skillful trainer.
Shir took a course for the position of operations sergeant and was assigned to the "Urim" base of the Home Front Command.

On Independence Day, Shir received an "Outstanding Soldier" certificate in recognition of her performance and professionalism.

Shir had many good friends in the "Urim" base, and she loved serving there.

When the "Urim" base was attacked by terrorists on the "Black Sabbath" on October 7, 2023, Shir was not on duty. Her family members called her to see how she is doing after learning about the terrorist attack in the area. This conversation was unusual, Which only further emphasized the seriousness of the situation, as her family usually did not used the phone on Shabbat. Shir was calm and reassuring. She informed them about the heavy rocket barrages around the base and mentioned that she had a lot of work ahead of her.

Shir immediately ran to the operations room and from there she reported the situation to her commanders who were outside the base. Her performance was professional, and she even counted the terrorists so that her reports would be as accurate as possible. She tried to call back up and contacted various security agencies, including the police. Beside her, the other female soldiers who were at the scene also worked professionally and calmly in the operations room and managed the crisis together with her.

During that morning, Eden Ram, Shir's friend in the base, had her leg injured by the terrorists. Shir calmed her down, put a tourniquet on her leg and continued to perform her tasks at the operations room.

When Shir's commanders arrived at the base, she calmly talked to them on the radio and refused to open the gate for them because they were unarmed and she feared for their lives.

During the attack on the operations room, the terrorists fired at the late Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Aharon Parash who was standing outside the operations room in order to guard it. Aharon was killed by this shot. Shir took Aharon's weapon and waited for the terrorists who were about to break down the door. In an investigative story covered by Channel 12 News, the last moments of Shir and the operations room commander, the late Alina Pravosudova, who was waiting by her side for the terrorists to enter, were described. In this story, the following events were described: "The window camera shows Alina and Shir in a kneeling position. The weapons are aimed at the terrorists at the entrance of the operations room. They shot the security cameras and advanced towards Alina and Shir. They surrounded the door of the operations room from all directions and prepared to break in. The second the door opens, Alina and Shir open fire. The terrorists fled, but the grenades in their possession changed the picture."

Shir was killed in the terrorist attack. She fell over two femalse soldiers and protected them. Thus surviving the attack. Before she fell, Shir managed to fire one bullet at the terrorists.
In death, Shir saved the lives of many.

After Shir's passing, her family members found on her mobile phone a personal letter of empowerment that she had written to herself in which she expressed deep sorrow for the loss of her beloved friend and the difficulty in dealing with sadness and the inability to continue supporting her family members and friends as before. However, out of this sensation of inner weakness she describes, an optimistic tone emerges finishing the text with a sense of joy and hope. Shir's family members see the text as a spiritual testament. They wear it around their necks. This is how they remember the important message she wrote to them.

This text is presented here verbatim:

"'What's going on with you Shir?' How do you explain to someone what is going with you when you don't have a clue yourself. The last period was my best period ever and then everything shattered for me in an instant. My life is perfect, it's true, I appreciate every little thing in it, but it doesn't help me feel better about myself, my life is perfect, but I can't do anything so that others can have it too. I deny Yam's death, because I simply cannot think that the life of a 19-year-old girl, a girl of my age, whom I actually saw grow up, stopped in an instant, and mine continues as usual. I deny because I am unable to cope, unable to think that such kind of evil exists in my so perfect world. It annoys me to know that I am in denial because I am weak and unable to cope, I just run away. It annoys me that I don't let myself feel pain or sadness and just ignore them. It also annoys me to be such a control freak and not let myself be sad. It annoys me that Every night before I go to sleep, the thought of her comes to my mind and I remember this shocking video that I can't get out of my head, how do you explain to someone a feeling that even you don't understand? Every time I feel a difficulty, I run away from it, I feel like I'm dealing with a certain anxiety of abandonment, which I simply created for myself and recognized it on my own, and along the way I feel blocked because it's only me who created it for myself. I feel blocked because I let my happiness depend on the things and people around me, instead of depending on Shir, as it has been until now. I don't feel like Shir, Shir used to be happy and smile no matter what happens, and suddenly I became someone who erases everyone's smile from their faces, not on purpose, just because I'm worried about them. I push people away from me because I don't think anyone deserves to experience this kind of Shir, and I hate myself for it. I can't open up to people because there was someone who said they wouldn't leave you for another day and a half like it was until now. It annoys me that I don't manage to be a real and good friend to my friends, it annoys me that Shir has so much to give of herself and no one wants to accept it, or because they manage on their own and doesn't want to, or because they just think they burden on me. And they are not. The need to protect everyone all the time also annoys me, but I love it very much. It's funny because today Shoval told me that I don't see it but I act like everyone's mother. 'You're even my mother, you dumbass'. It annoys me that lately Shir doesn't give of herself and only takes because it's not typical for her, and it's true that this is life and that everyone needs it sometimes but as much as possible. It annoys me that I can't protect Sharon, that I try and fail. It annoys me that he sees that dad is not feeling well, that he sees that he is in pain, because that's how I was when I was his age, helpless in the face of this. It also annoys me to see dad like this, but hey, what can I do right? It annoys me that there are things that are out of my control, it annoys me that I can't make everyone happy, it annoys me that I can't fix my family, it's perfect, yes? It just seems to me that I have a fear that Shir's sweet reality will shatter all over me. Seeing the world in pink is beautiful, I will still continue to see it that way, optimism and joy of life is my way, not something I will ever get over myself. 'A smile is joy and joy is the strength to move on'. right? Come on Shir, go to sleep already, cut it out."

Shir loved to read books. When her belongings arrived from the base, her family members found in her bag a book she had bought for herself. It was the same book her sister also bought for herself the week she was killed. Shir's mother sees this as symbolic of the good relationship that existed between the two sisters and the common loves they shared.

After her fall, the Ort Yad Labovitch school held a series of commemorative activities for Shir and other fallen school graduates:
A commemorative corner was established in Shir's memory, which reads: " Ort Yad Levovitch highschool shares the family's grief for the fall of the late sergeant Shir Shlomo. Shir, a graduate of the school's 11th class, served as an operation sergeant in the Home Front Command and fell while performing her duties during a terrorist raid in the 'Iron Swords' war. Shir was a smart student, always with a smile on her face. With a big heart and loved by those around her, she always cared for everyone and thought about others. May her memory be blessed." In this commemorative corner, the following recipe that Shir loved to make was published:

Shir's pancake recipe
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup orange juice
A pinch of salt

12th grade class number 2 is intending to prepare the recipe and share the pancaces with the student body.

On December 13, 2023, on Shir's birthday, the school organized a sports day in her memory. The participants in the sports day wore shirts with the inscription: "A training made for heroes. Remembering Shir Shlomo. 13/12". The school intends to hold a sports day in Shir's memory every year on her birthday.

The school students also planted trees in memory of the fallen school graduates.

Shir's family members are commemorating Shir in a variety of activities: handing out stickers for vehicles with the inscription of the inspirational phrase that Shir used to say: "Whatever you do, do it for something". On the Hanukkah holiday, they distributed "Shir Shlomo candelabras" in her memory. In preparation for the Passover Seder night in April 2024, members of Shir's family purchased Haggadot and Sidur prayer books with dedications for her. The inscription on the Sidur reads: "Dedicated in memory of Shir Shlomo daughter of Anat who was murdered while fulfilling her duty defending her country. May her soul rest in peace forever".

Anat, Shir's mother, commemorates her beloved daughter by writing. Shir's high school teacher, Sophie Steiner, composed one of Anat's poems and she sang it together with her daughter Ella. Below are the lyrics:

A song about Shir
Mommy Anat:
The world goes on and doesn't stop.
How the world goes on and doesn't stop,
And with it the pain, yes with it the pain.
The world goes on, people grow,
And you will stay forever,
My Shir, forever young.
(God) When will the pain stop?
They say, we'll meet up there.
Losing a girl is not fair,
It's not fair.
We keep doing what you love
We keep commemorating your name,
We keep busy and it doesn't work,
Soldiers continue to fight,
Every day another soldier falls, another soldier falls,
The world goes on and doesn't stop.
The world goes on and doesn't stop, it doesn't stop,
The world goes on and does not stop, and with it the pain, and with it the pain...
The world goes on and does not stop, and with it the pain and with it the pain...
God, please make it end
Daughter Shir:
hi mom,
the world will go on,
won't stop
Yes, the world will go on and not stop,
Despite the pain, that doesn't leave me either...
And I'm here right next to you, not leaving you for a moment,
I didn't choose to be a hero,
I just wanted to be your girl.
I Love you... they say, we'll meet up there,
(Because) losing a girl is not fair.
God, when will the pain stop?
They say: We will meet up there,
Losing a girl is not fair,
It's not fair.
God, please make it end."

Immediately after the broadcast of the Investigative story on Channel 12 about the terrorist attack on the "Urim" base in which Shir's heroism was revealed, her mother wrote the following poem:
This is not a dream, this is reality.
we lost the most precious thing of all,
Unfortunately, this has already been published.
cannot be consoled,
can't understand
It's pain for life,
We will always miss Shir.
whatever we do
whatever they say
And whatever they will do for us,
will not fill the gap
And won't pass the pain
the Terrible one of all.
They say you were a hero
and calmly
fought the Nuhba,
saved your friends and country.
Shir, I knew you were a hero,
I didn't need any proof,
I needed you here
As my girl forever
and not up there,
as everyone's hero."