Rachel Ben Yaish, mother of the late Etti Zack’s's Moroccan Fish  Recipe

“A Place at the Table” is a commemorative project that documents the favorite dishes of those lost on October 7 with the help of their families.  

Almost every Friday, the Zack family from Kibbutz Kissufim gathered at Grandma Rachel’s house in Sderot to celebrate Shabbat together. Rachel Ben-Yaish always made sure to prepare the dishes each of her children and grandchildren enjoyed. “My daughter and her children only liked tuna for Shabbat,” she says, her voice choking with tears. “Now, I only make one tilapia, because the ones who loved tuna are no longer here.”

On October 7 at 6:30 a.m., when the sirens sounded, her daughter Etti Zack (50), along with Etti’s husband Itay (53), their youngest son Sagi (14), and their dog Sokka rushed to the secure room of their home on the kibbutz. The couple’s two older children, Tomer (22) and Hadar (24), weren’t home. Just hours earlier, they had all shared Shabbat dinner at Rachel’s house. Despite her urging them to stay overnight since the next day was a holiday, they insisted on returning home to Sokka. “Tomorrow, we’ll be back within fifteen minutes,” they promised her.

That fateful morning, family members attempted to contact Etti, Itay, and Sagi by phone, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Around noon, the couple left the security room for the first time, where there was no reception, to call their children and reassure them that they were okay. They mentioned that there was fighting outside and that they could hear the terrorists. In their last conversation, Tomer recalls, her mother was speaking in a whisper, having heard the terrorists approaching, and they quickly returned to the security room.

According to witness accounts collected by Tomer from neighbors, along with the findings in the house, she estimates that shortly after her last conversation with her mother, a terrorist entered the family home, claiming to be an IDF soldier that came to rescue them. Itay reportedly opened the door to the security room for him and was shot first. He was found dead on the doorstep alongside Sokka. Etti and Sagi were discovered shot on the bed, with Etti hugging and protecting her son. Afterward, the terrorists set the house on fire.

Now, in her kitchen, as Rachel arranges garlic cloves in a pan alongside quartered tomatoes and slices of red peppers for the fish dish they loved, she can’t — and doesn’t want to — stop crying. “This year’s holidays feel so sad to me that I don’t even want to prepare anything. Everything has changed,” she says. “I used to get up and do everything because I knew everyone was coming, but now it’s not the same. Everything is gone. [Etti] left and took everything with her. I can’t find myself. I cry all the time. I remember them, and I tear up.”

Etti was born and raised in Sderot, while Itay grew up in Moshav Tzofit. They married in 1998 and Rachel explains, “I adopted him and loved him like a son.” She remembers the first time Itay joined them for Shabbat dinner; he was unfamiliar with Moroccan cuisine and thought the salads were the entire meal. “Later, he realized it was just an aperitif,” she recalls, a small smile forming on her lips.

In 2010, after the birth of their youngest son, Sagi, the family made the decision to relocate from Emek Hefer to Kibbutz Kissufim near the Gaza border. Itay, who had been involved in agriculture since a young age, worked in the kibbutz’s avocado orchard, while Etti worked in education. Rachel notes that their shared dream was to be accepted as full members of the kibbutz — a dream they achieved not long before they were murdered.

After the Shiva mourning period, Tomer decided to enlist in the reserves with the Gaza Division. “I couldn’t see myself sitting on the sidelines, so I begged my uncle, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, to take me. For me, it was essential to be involved in the defense; everything else felt disconnected,” she says. Now, alongside her brother Hadar, they hope to carry on the family legacy of their parents, who always taught them to think positively, love their country, and remain united.