Portraits of Resilience: Amor Assulin

Amor Assulin, a student at WIZO Nachlat Yehuda, lost her father on October 7.

On October 7th, 2023, Amor Assulin, a 10th grade student at WIZO Nachlat Yehuda Youth Village in Rishon LeZion received news that her father Lior was missing. Lior, a former Israeli soccer player, had been celebrating his 43rd birthday at the Nova music festival when Hamas attacked Israel.

For an entire day among the chaos and shock of that horrible Saturday, Amor prayed and hoped that her father would be found alive. On October 8, Lior’s body was found among the hundreds of festival goers who were brutally massacred.

At her father’s funeral, bloodshot eyes covered by oversized sunglasses, and surrounded by hundreds of family members, friends and soccer fans, Amor sobbed and struggled to get through her eulogy.

Amor shared details of that awful weekend. She and her family considered joining her father to celebrate his birthday, which was on October 6, but in the end, Lior drove to the festival alone. According to the information they received, he was one of the first few to evacuate the festival grounds and immediately ran into the Hamas terrorists. He was killed in the first hour of the attack.

They tried calling him over and over again as the sirens blared and they sat in the bomb shelter. They searched frantically through social media platforms and Telegram for any shred of information as to his whereabouts. A day later, the list of identified bodies include the name Lior Assulin.

“It was so weird at first, all the attention and people around me,” she said. “But I know that they were trying to show me love and support and it really did help. It was a process. At first I was very quiet, I didn’t know how to talk about it. I didn’t have the courage. In the end, I understood that the staff and therapists wanted what was best for me. Some people got stuck in the past, what happened. You’re half in the present, and half in the past. I managed to move ahead.”

At WIZO Nachlat Yehuda, Amor found a loving and supportive environment, even before the tragic events of October 7. Her experience with school was not always positive, but at Nachlat Yehuda the staff’s approach to seeing every child and their unique needs was exactly what the troubled teen was lacking.

After her father was killed, Amor’s academics suffered, but she said the staff did not give up on her, nor did they push her. “They helped me, they understood me but they didn’t pressure me. Lots of conversations, and at first I didn’t think anything would help, but slowly I opened up and I did feel myself getting stronger.”

Looking toward the future, Amor wants to serve in the army. Although she wants to serve in a meaningful role, she says that her family is hesitant. “I want to be a fighter, but my mom is concerned about that.”

For now, she’s in no rush to leave WIZO Nachlat Yehuda. There, she feels like she’s at home and although she doesn’t want to always get attention for the tragedy she experienced, she is very appreciative of everything the staff and fellow students have done to make her feel loved, supported and cared for.