At the end of the shiva for Harel Massoud, one of the four murdered in the attack at the gas station near Ali, his grieving friends took the time to put his belongings in order and suddenly found a diary - a thin notebook that tells a little about the story of the young man, who recently completed his military service and fulfilled his simple dream: to become a shepherd.
"He's not a person who writes things like that, and we didn't think for a moment that he left something like that behind," says bereaved father Gil Massoud. "His friends saw it and were amazed. We were all shocked." In one moment, he said, he was thrown into the world of his murdered son and received from him a final message, a message of peace, of shepherding in the middle of nowhere. "He wanted peace and quiet, he was always at ease. That's what we'd like to be remembered for," Gil hopes.
Civilians praying at the site of the attack in Ali
Harel Massoud completed his military service in the Desert Book unit about three months ago, and immediately set out to fulfill his dream. "Already when he enlisted, he told me that as a release gift, I would buy him five goats," his father recalls. "He wanted to be a shepherd in the Land of Israel. After he was released, he bought goats and fulfilled his dream."
"Like the herd flow"
In his diary, Harel said that he found his place in the world after his discharge from military service, which he experienced as both enjoyable and challenging.
"I'm sitting in the pasture writing this, and I realize that this is exactly what I dreamed of – to graze the flock, to understand that the battle doesn't always have to be with all kinds of moves, but sometimes simply, really leisurely, like the flow of the flock. On the one hand, we are here in the Land of Israel - but not with too much noise, but a jump of friends whose only dream is the Temple. Greater Israel."
A message of tranquility
Harel's words were a message of calm for his comrades after a difficult incident that took place during the shiva, when Colonel Eliav Elbaz, Binyamin Brigade Commander, arrived at the mourning tent and was shouted away by the deceased's charged friends.
A photocopy of the pages of the diary of the late Harel Massoud,
Father Gil says it happened in the heat of events, and that his son's friends also regretted them. "It's blown out of proportion. I spoke to them afterwards, and they were sorry and said that the situation on the ground hurt them, that they felt there was no security.
"The brigade commander arrived without coordination, on a very charged evening. You have to understand that most of them serve in the Desert Book unit, but it was hard for them. These are good guys, who love the country and settle it. They are the salt of the earth doing holy work."
In other pages of his diary, Harel wrote about a trip he took with the goats, together with his friends. "The plan is to reach the back of the Wahita tonight. We waited for Yitzhak and started flowing towards the valley. I feel that something is opening, my path begins. All my time in the army I prayed that I would have a herd of goats, and thank God it happened.
Harel's friends at his funeral, Photo: AP
"In the Wadi I felt something special. Three Jews, friends, with a herd of goats. Walking with our heads held high in the Land of Israel, simply. We descended from the small mountain to the valley. Going down to my back, I saw a trough with a bucket in the gorge. God arranged us. We filled the trough and the herd drank with its fun."
For Gil, "these words are a souvenir for us, a reminder of how much simplicity, humility and love of country and man he had." He concludes with intense longing: "These guys live modestly, in tents, in a world of values different from ours."
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