“Tamir was a lion”: Sgt. Tamir Barak killed in Gaza aboard the machine he loved
Tamir was born a lively, mischievous child on the kibbutz. His mother, Almog Moyal Barak, remembers with a smile: “He was born tiny, very mischievous. ... When he was in preschool on the kibbutz, we would regularly get calls from his teacher asking, ‘What did Tamir do this time?’ He was bouncy, restless. ... That stayed with him pretty much his whole life.”
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From the time he was born, Tamir was drawn to anything with a steering wheel. His father, Golan Barak, recalls, “Tamir was a kid who really loved ride-on toys and anything involving a steering wheel. ... From the very beginning, it was something that fascinated him.”
At home, Tamir was the “middle” child at the center of the family, the one who connected everyone. His brother Yogev recalls: “He would always say, ‘I’m the sandwich, I’m in the middle.’ He was basically Dad’s right-hand man when it came to work, projects and physical labor.”
Alongside his hard work and love of extreme activities, Tamir was a young man who loved life. “He was athletic and tall, happy. ... He loved seeing the good in everything. He liked fooling around and getting into trouble.”
A connection to the land and a dream of the D9
School was not always easy for him. “Tamir was terribly disorganized in structured settings, and he discovered his strengths on a tractor,” his mother says. Despite concerns that he might drop out, he persevered and completed 12 years of schooling, earning his matriculation certificate.
When it came time for his military service, his goal was clear: combat engineering heavy equipment. “From the age of 16 or 17, he knew he wanted to do something involving tractors, machinery and big equipment,” Golan says.
Tamir dreamed of operating a D9 armored bulldozer, which he saw as an impenetrable fortress. “He told me, ‘Mom, it’s the most protected thing there is. No matter where I am, I’ll be protected,’” Almog recalls painfully.
The first soldier killed ahead of the ground offensive
On Oct. 7, Tamir was at home, but he was quickly called back to the military. A week before his death, his grandfather died and Tamir went home to sit shiva, causing him to miss his unit’s first operational mission.
On Oct. 22, he returned to Gaza for an intensive operation to clear the area. “A terrorist emerged from a tunnel with an anti-tank weapon and hit the vehicle. Tamir was critically wounded and killed,” his father says.
Tamir was the first soldier killed in operations connected to the ground campaign, before the full-scale ground offensive officially began.
A lion’s legacy
Tamir is survived by a family filled with pride and pain. His father commemorated him with a tattoo combining a lion and tractor parts. “Tamir's first tattoo was a lion. After he was killed, I realized that Tamir was a lion.”
His brother Yogev sums up the family’s pride: “As someone who sacrificed his life, put himself in danger and did something meaningful for this country, what makes me proudest is being his brother.”
Almog, who lost her father and her son within the span of a single week, says with a broken heart but immense pride: “I am so proud to be his mother. I am proud that I had a son like him for 19 years.”
Tamir died as he lived: connected to the steering wheel, to the land and to the mission.
Sgt. Tamir Barak of the Combat Engineering Corps was killed on Oct. 22, 2023. He was 19.
May his memory be a blessing.
Sergeant
Tamir Barak