"We Don't Need a Day to Remember": Maayan Adam on Her Double Loss
From her sister Mapal, murdered on October 7, to Roei, who took his own life: The media personality shares her sleepless nights and the weight of accumulating grief.
On this Memorial Day, media personality Maayan Adam mourns not only her beloved sister, Mapal z"l, who was murdered in the "Nova" festival massacre, but also another victim of that terrible day: Roei Shalev z"l. Roei, Adam's former partner, was very close to Mapal and supported the family through their darkest moments. However, the pain eventually overwhelmed him, and he chose to end his life after being unable to bear the burden of grief.
In heartbreaking posts shared on social media, Adam revealed the impossible reality of her life since that cursed Saturday. Alongside a photo of a pile of wet tissues on the floor, she wrote: "There are many nights like this; we just go through them quietly and alone. We don't need a day to remember, but we do need days to scream that it hurts, all of us together."
The Expanding Circle of Loss
Adam also shared the chilling difficulty of visiting the cemetery, preparing herself for the encounter with the headstones of those who were an inseparable part of her life.
"I am preparing myself for the fact that Roei won't be there like always to give a hug," she wrote in pain, describing the vast void left by the two. Maayan's words echo the stories of many whose circles of loss have expanded far beyond the day of the massacre itself, serving as a reminder of the bleeding wounds that remains open in the heart of Israeli society.