“To dream big. Not to settle for a temporary structure—to build, and if you build, go all the way, let it be invested, honorable, let it expand the heart.”
This is how Tzofia Shishportish described her husband’s vision to build a synagogue in their community of Shlomit in the Negev desert, a region he loved so much that he died protecting it.
Reuven Shishportish was the commander of Shlomit’s volunteer security team, murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, alongside three fellow team members—Aviad Cohen, Uriel Bibi and Bechor Sued—when they rushed to defend the neighboring community of Pri-Gan during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel. They were among the first responders who ran toward the danger. None returned home to their loved ones.
On May 7, some 1,500 people gathered in Shlomit and, through singing, dancing, laughter and tears, dedicated the community’s first permanent synagogue, a luminous modern structure with soaring windows and enough room to seat 650 worshippers.
Perched high on the landscape of the northwestern Negev, the Be’er Shalom Synagogue—“Well of Peace”—is visible from across the surrounding terrain, including from the direction of Gaza and Egypt. It bears the names of the four fallen men.
For a community that has known devastating grief, it was, in the words of one of the organizers, “the best kind of healing.”
Fifteen years without a synagogue
Shlomit is a small, tightly knit community in the Eshkol region, established 15 years ago just a few hundred meters from the borders of Gaza and Egypt. For all those years, residents managed without a permanent house of worship. The new synagogue, a project 2.5 years in the making, was completed on the day of its dedication.
It is more than merely a building with four walls. Tastefully designed, it was built to expand the heart as much as the spirit.
Yedidya Harush, Jewish National Fund-USA’s liaison to the Halutza communities and a man who knew all four men personally, spoke about the new synagogue and what it symbolizes.
“This is the absolute most powerful victory there is—there is no doubt about it,” he said during the emotional ceremony. “The fact that we continue—that we don’t give up, ever, and that we bring more families and more hope to a region that has suffered so much—that is the ultimate victory.”
Most of the structure, apart from its foundations, was built after Oct. 7. The timing is significant. When the community of Shlomit was shattered by the loss of four of its own—men who went out to defend their neighbors without hesitation—the question of whether to build, whether to stay or whether to continue was never really in doubt.
Their widows, friends and neighbors promised not only to return home after being evacuated, but also to continue to build and expand. The new Be’er Shalom (“Well of Peace”) Synagogue is that promise made in concrete and stone.
A Torah, a procession and a promise
The day unfolded in stages, each layered with meaning. It began at 4 p.m. with the Mincha afternoon prayer service, followed by one of the most moving traditions in Jewish life: the completion of a new Torah scroll.
The Weiss family of Florida donated the Sefer Torah, and community members and guests took turns writing the final letters in the old temporary structure that had served as the community synagogue for years. Then, in a joyous procession, the Torah was carried through the streets of Shlomit and into its new permanent home.
Members of Israel’s Knesset, government ministers, senior rabbis and public figures joined residents for the dedication ceremony. Among them was MK Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope), who said: “What is happening here in Shlomit—this is the real thing. This is the spirit of our people.”
Opposition MK Benny Gantz addressed the crowd: “What you’re doing today is a wonderful thing. I want to congratulate you on the courage to choose this path.”
MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud) said of the four fallen men: “Not only are they not going anywhere—they are here with us. We learn to live together with them in a different way, a special way. That’s our strength. That’s how we move forward.”
‘It’s so him’
The synagogue was made possible by an extraordinary coalition of partners. JNF-USA was the lead contributor, joined by Keren Hayesod Australia, the Jewish Agency, JNF Canada, the Israeli government’s Tekumah Directorate for rebuilding the south, and individual donors from France, Panama and Israel.
The final four million shekels came from the residents of Shlomit themselves, who launched a grassroots campaign among their own networks of friends and family.
“People were very touched when they heard the story,” Harush said. In total, some 5,000 donors from around the world contributed to the project.
Tali Tzour Avner, chief Israel officer of JNF-USA, reflected on what the building represents.
“Dedicating the synagogue in Shlomit marks yet another important milestone in our ongoing commitment to strengthen and develop Israel’s South, its communities, and every facet of life within them,” she said. “This sacred space stands as both a heartfelt memorial and a meaningful promise—honoring the heroes who gave their lives and championing a future grounded in faith, community and purpose.”
She added, “This synagogue represents so much more than a physical structure. It is a living symbol of resilience, where loss is transformed into legacy, and where our collective determination ensures the people of Israel not only persevere, but thrive with pride, strength and hope.”
For the families of the four fallen men, the day carried a weight that was at once crushing and sustaining.
Tzofia Shishportish, Reuven’s widow and mother of their four children, spoke of how the synagogue was, in a deep sense, an expression of her husband’s own vision.
“From the start, he was committed to developing the community,” she said. “The subject of the synagogue was very close to his heart. He truly lived it. A sort of unwritten will.”
She paused, searching for words. “There’s something in the synagogue that represents Reuven’s spirit—how he acted in this world. It makes him present, because it’s so him. The magnitude, the abundance, the fulfillment of a dream that he actually, truly, acted for and dreamed of.”
Reuven died fighting alongside his closest friend, Aviad Cohen. They fell a minute apart.
Dana Cohen, Aviad’s widow and mother of six, was one of the four widows who stood before the assembled crowd. In remarks that moved many present to tears, she spoke of the synagogue as “a bridge between past and future, between pain and hope, between memory and life.”
Invoking the words of King David from Psalms—“In the house of God we walk with feeling”—she called on the community to enter the new building with hearts open to grief and love, memory and intention.
“This moment holds deep pain and endless longing,” she said, “but also great light.”
Harush, watching the bereaved families—the parents, siblings, widows and children—move through the new synagogue, described what he witnessed.
“I saw joy,” he told JNS. “It was obviously a kind of healing for the community and the widows after all that we’ve gone through. It obviously doesn’t take away the pain or diminish what they went through. But at the same time, it gives a lot of hope, strength and happiness.”
He added: “We promised the widows we’d call the synagogue in their husbands’ names—so that we could commemorate our friends. They would have been so proud and so excited.”
A testament to life
The dedication of Be’er Shalom is, in the most literal sense, an act of construction. But it is also something else: a choice, made by the people of Shlomit, to stay, to build and to bring new families into a region that seemed, on Oct. 8, 2023, broken beyond repair.
Among the 1,500 people who came to declare otherwise were four brave women raising 15 children between them—women carrying memories so painful that they had every reason to leave. Instead, each chose to remain.
As Dana Cohen told the crowd, they carry with them the memory of men who left behind, in her words, “a testament of life.”
