Yosef Salomon

The family had invited members of the community to join them in the celebration. When there was a knock on the door, the family thought one of their guests had arrived. Instead, it was a terrorist who had scaled the security wall of the town and noticed activity around the Salomon home.

As soon as Chaya opened the door, the terrorist began stabbing anyone he could reach. He stabbed Chaya first. Despite her wounds, she ran out of the house screaming for help.

The terrorist then murdered Yosef and stabbed his wife, Tovah, 68, in the back, wounding her seriously. He then struggled with Elad long enough for Michal to take the children to another room and hold the door until the ordeal finished. Unfortunately, the terrorist won the struggle with Elad, killing him before an off-duty soldier heard the screams and shot the terrorist through the window.

Neighbors described Yosef as a “grandfather-like” figure for the community. He led prayer services in the local synagogue and volunteered with the security patrols in the neighborhood.

He is survived three remaining children, two daughters and son. At his funeral, one of the surviving daughters, Orit, spoke about the void that’s left in their lives after the murders. “Dad, you were always a man who gave everything and made us all happy and made us feel like everything was OK but now, nothing is OK,” she said. “Now you can rest, we will look after Mom.”​

Rabbi Yonatan Glass, the rabbi of Halamish, told mourners about how hard Yosef worked for the benefit of other people. “Only someone with no remnant of humanity could raise their hand against Yossi and his family,” he said. “Yossi made everyone he came across happy. The Salomon family household was based on making other people happy.”

A few days after the murder, the grandson those birth the family was celebrating had his brit and received his name – Ari Yosef Salomon – after the grandfather he lost a day after he was born.