Hostage, ‘the grandfather of all,’ missed by many

Luis Har isn’t just a grandfather to his own 10 grandchildren, said his daughter, Rinat Sheleg. In their kibbutz, “he’s like the grandfather of all.”

Har, 70, had been visiting another kibbutz near the Gaza border with his longtime partner, Clara Marman, for a child’s birthday party. The couple were taken hostage in the attack, with Marman’s brother Fernando Marman, her sister Gabriela Leimberg and her niece Mia Leimberg, 17.

Sheleg said she and her two children were visiting friends in another part of Israel when her father texted her around 10 a.m., saying there were attackers. An hour later, he texted that the terrorists had come into the house. That was the last she heard from him.

Sheleg and her sister made a short visit to the United States recently to talk about their father and the others taken hostage.

Her children, 5 and 2, have been asking about him, she said. “My dad all the time takes them from kindergarten. Every day we eat dinner together, we are all the time together. For them it’s like their father more than grandfather.”

Har spent his childhood in Argentina, then came to Israel for military service and never left, Sheleg said.

He’s an avid dancer and a committed cook, she said. “All our life, he makes us the best pasta and pizza and empanadas and all the great food.”

She said his return will bring a huge celebration. But can’t even begin to imagine what he’s gone through — and worries that “he will not come back the same person that he was before.”

Consumed with worry, she hasn’t been sleeping well.

“He’s (an) amazing person, he’s our best friend, he’s not only our dad.”

Rinat Har Hostage Luis Har, 70, with two of his grandchildren in Israel.