Joseph (Juju) Rabia lost his sons, Noam, 30, and Yuval Rabia, 33, who were murdered on Oct. 7 after fleeing the Psyduck party held between the kibbutzim of Nirim and Nir Oz. Since then, he has volunteered at the memorial site at the Nova festival grounds. For Hanukkah, he built dozens of menorahs, placed them beside photos of the victims and on Sunday evening lit the first candle at the site.
As part of his volunteer work, Rabia prepares the frames for the photos of those murdered and killed, spends long hours at the memorial and helps maintain the site while supporting bereaved families. He filmed a video of himself walking among the photos as dozens of menorahs burned. “Lighting the first Hanukkah candle at Nova,” he can be heard saying.
Rabia’s tribute: dozens of menorahs lit at the Nova memorial site
Rabia’s two sons were murdered along with Yuval’s fiancee, Noy Zafrani, 27. In August, during a visit to Tel Aviv, a mobile phone containing his memories of his sons was stolen. Several days later, the phone was located and police arrested a Sudanese foreign worker in Holon suspected of stealing it.
Rabia said at the time that the phone was taken after he placed it beside him for a moment on a bench along the promenade. “After a while I realized it was stolen. Everything was on that phone, all the memories of my children. Photos, recordings, last conversations. All the memories disappeared. I thought it was backed up, and when I went to buy a new phone I discovered there was no backup.”
After the phone was found, he said a police officer called to say it had been recovered, but that the thief had deleted its contents. “The police told me not to worry and said they have ways to restore it. In recent days, my sons’ friends opened two groups and uploaded a huge amount of materials and memories. I now have more documentation than I did before.”
Rabia added emotionally, “The whole country pushed to help find this phone. It’s simply incredible, a mobilization of the people of Israel. There were so many shares. The police did amazing work, and it’s not simple to find a phone like that. It’s just amazing.”