By: Michal Wiener, Mother of the late Yahav Wiener's Schnitzel 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.   

Before Michal Wiener had a chance to place the schnitzel she had just fried on the table, her son Yahav would always walk into the kitchen and grab one. He never forgot to compliment her right after the first bite: “Mom, this is so delicious.” 

Yahav was murdered on October 7 on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Today, even though Yahav is gone, the schnitzel tradition continues in the Wiener family home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. “Whenever there is schnitzel on the table, Yahav is with us. Even if we can’t see him, I feel he’s up there, saying ‘Mom, I’m proud of you. Even when I’m not here, you make schnitzel for me, and I can smell them from above,'” Michal shares.

The eldest of four, Yahav was born in 1986. His parents Michal and Ofer noticed his passion for the arts from a young age. He played guitar and made everyone laugh with his masterful impressions at Friday dinners. He enrolled in the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, where he met his future wife Shaylee Atary. 

Later, he went to film school at Minshar. “Yahav loved making films and writing. He was so talented in everything he did — music, acting, photography, directing,” Michal says. “He was a dreamer, and we helped him achieve his dreams. We produced many of his films. Ofer also acted in some of them.” After his death, Yahav received the Ophir Award for Best Short Feature Film for his film “The Boy.” 

On October 6th, Yahav attended his grandfather’s funeral. The two were very close, and Yahav cried as he delivered the eulogy, saying: “Grandpa, someday soon we’ll meet up there in the sky.” The next morning, when the sirens started, the family rushed to the safe rooms in their homes. Yahav and Shaylee had their one-month-old daughter Shaya with them. At 7:45 a.m., Yahav messaged: “Mom, there are terrorists outside our window.” 

Michal told him to make sure the safe room door was securely locked. Fifteen minutes later, she wrote to him again. That message remained unanswered. An hour later, a kibbutz member called to say that Shaylee and the baby were with her and safe.

Later, Shaylee explained that the terrorists managed to open the safe room’s window. Yahav confronted the terrorists, trying to protect his family, and told Shaylee to take Shaya and run. Shaylee, who uses a walking stick, ran with the baby, dodging bullets from terrorists. 

Yahav’s parents, grandmother, and brother were rescued on Sunday afternoon. They were told Yahav was wounded and hospitalized, but calls to hospitals revealed nothing. Three days later, they learned that Yahav was fatally shot in his apartment.

Yahav and Shaylee shared a profound love. “They had a relationship that’s really hard to find,” Michal says, and they were thrilled to become parents. “Shaya lost a wonderful father,” she adds. The house is filled with photographs of him, and Shaya kisses them and asks to watch videos of her father. 

“It didn’t surprise me that Yahav sacrificed his life to protect Shaya and Shaylee,” his mother says in tears. “Yahav loved people, and his wife and daughter above everything else.”

In Yahav’s memory, the whole family got tattoos to remind them of him. “We are always trying to make him feel present. We talk about him, share memories, and we laugh a lot,” she says. 

Did you prepare the dish? Share a photo of it and tag it #A_Place_at_the_Table  to honor the memory of the late Yahav Wiener.