Sergeant Major Shachaf Nissani

Daughter of Ilana and Rahamim

Sister of Moshe (Moshiko), Sapir and Dolev

Shachaf was born in Ashkelon, the youngest daughter of her parents and three brothers, aunt to her nephews Rani and Roy.
Shachaf studied at the Makif Ort Henry Ronson high school for scientific and technological leadership.
Shachaf's homeroom teacher, Sharon Latti, described Shachaf to the local newspaper "Kan Darom Ashkelon" with the following words: "Shachaf always helps, taking responsibility and part in any planning that is required. We have been in continuous contact since she finished the 12th grade, she was always a giving person... the whole family is like that, they are the first to volunteer and contribute and Shachaf was the same too. And there is nothing more natural than commemorating Shachaf as part of "good word day.'"
Shachaf was deliberating what to do after her discharge from the army and she shared her thoughts on the subject with her mother. With her mother's advice, she decided to dedicate the year after her discharge to rest, travel, and planning her future career.

Shaaf joined the IDF on October 24, 2021 and served in the Border Defense Corps. She enlisted even though she was very anxious as a result of her childhood spent with shelling alarms in Ashkelon. Since her first steps in the army upon her enlistment , Shachaf had to deal with her anxiety disorder. The training course she did was not an easy experience for her at the "Sayarim" base near Eilat. When she was assigned to the position of field observer, she burst into tears because of the security situation. At this point, she gathered her strength and decided to take care of her mental condition, which was the easiest solution, she decided to get mental help and began psychological treatment. The therapeutic process she went through in the last year of her life was effective for her and she decided consciously and out of an informed contemplation not to ask for a relocation in a quiet sector like the border with Egypt. Instead, she chose to be placed in a sector that would force her to face the worst of her anxieties She asked to serve at the Nahal Oz base, facing the highly intenst border with Gaza.
Shachaf's service in Nahal Oz was a real personal success for her, a breakthrough victory in overcoming the trauma of anxiety. Her commanders described her as an excellent soldier who was designated for officer training. She always helped the other soldiers and had many good friends at the base that she loved each and every one of them. During her service at Nahal Oz, she flourished socially and professionally.

The "Black Sabbath" on October 7, 2023 was supposed to be Shachaf's last weekend before her discharge. On Friday evening, October 6, 2023, she celebrated her discharge with her friends at a meal which she called "THE LAST DISCO - The Last Supper"...
Her sister and mother brought to the base on Friday morning with her favorite homemade food for the party. The sensitive and kind-hearted Shachaf did not forget to ask that a special dish be prepared for a soldier with celiac. Shachaf's discharge party was happy and cheerful, the girl soldiers sang, danced and uploaded videos on their Instagram stories.
After the party, Shachaf began her night shift that lasted until the next morning. On Saturday, she called her mother at 06:30 in the morning, frightened and informed that terrorists had entered the base and fired shots. For about an hour, until 07:30 in the morning, she had time to send goodbye messages to her mother, her father, her best friends and the family WhatsApp group. To her mother, she wrote: "Stay exactly as you are, thank you for everything, I love you." To her father she wrote: "You are the best father in the world, thank you for everything, take care of mother if I won't make it."
During Shachaf's stay at the mobile shelter, she helped her friends who didn't have time to take their mobile phones with them to the shelter and let them talk to their families from her phone. Shachaf's family is comforted by the fact that in her last moments she did an act of kindness for others.
After the terrorist attack, Shachaf was missing for five days. On Wednesday, October 11, 2023, the date she was supposed to be discharged, her family was informed of her fall.
Shachaf's cousin, the late Eden Gaz, was also murdered on the same day of Shachaf's fall, when she was at the party in Re'im.

Shachaf always saw the glass as half full and was full of giving and compassion for others.
In the farewell letter she read to her friends at the discharge party, it was written: "Do for each other and not in order to get somethingback, but truly from the heart".
Shachaf loved traveling abroad, especially to London. She planned to go with her mother on a trip to Amsterdam after her discharge. The trip was supposed to take place during the "Shivah", as her family mourned her.
Shachaf also planned to travel in London with a good friend and she managed to book a plane ticket and a hotel room for the beginning of January 2024.

Shachaf had a beloved pet dog which she nicknamed "Luther".
Shachaf loved the Israeli musical telenovela series "Our Song". She watched it repeatedly and knew every dialogue by heart.
Shachaf had a special fondness for sneakers shoes. she liked to buy them in all shapes and colors.

The Ort Henry Ronson High School where Shachaf studied after her fall, initiated two commemorative projects in her memory. In one project, the 12th grade students met with members of Shachaf's family who told about her and her legacy. The second project was held on the traditional "Good word Day" that takes place every year at the school. Members of her family were invited to this meeting as well as members of Ashkelon's emergency department to thank them for their service for the city.

The popular Israeli rock band "The Blue Elephant" encountered the stories told by Shachaf's family members about her character. Inspired by these stories, they wrote the song "Queen of the Sun" in her memory. Here is a link to the song on Instagram.

In the farewell letter that Shachaf read to her friends at her discharge party at the base, she spoke candidly about the personal hardships she endured. She gave them inspiring messages about the power of love in surpassing all obstacles and regarding the ability to develop mental resilience thanks to military service. Below is the text of her moving words as written in her own words:
"My friends, It's strange for me to stand here and talk and especially talk about myself, but as befits this place, it will always put you in situations that are not comfortable for you.
Upon my enlisting, I always wanted to be a 'coffee server for important people' or by it's actual name, secretary, that gets to go home every day.
So as a girl I handled security anxieties, social anxieties and many other fears that if we start to list them we will never finish.
I took care of myself and started a process with myself.
Then I got my assignment. A field observer? What the heck? I'm still at the beginning of my process.
I said well, I can't get out of here and I'll do it to the best of my ability.
I chose Gaza, I chose Nahal Oz, I chose the place that was the greatest fear for me.
I knew this would be the best test for me, to know if I really got over it.
I got exactly what I wanted and then came the overlap, my traumatic period, depression for two months, crying only from saying "hello", no food, no home, just me and my crying.
After the overlap, the place was not glamorous, 28 Black, the shifts that fell on me, departures on Thursday or Friday, the shifts where you have to meet girls and have fun with them even though they were my absolute opossite.
I didn't give up, I tried to work with myself, with lots of crying but still going on.
In the 'touch the wall' challenge, something gave in. I met girls with whom the relationship was more natural and truer to me. Then I went on my rotation, as I was assigned for a short time, but it felt like forever and I even started operation 'come back sis'.
When I got my Sergeant stripes, I fell again, staying for the holidays, Passover Seder at the base, no role assigned to me, lack of communication with the command and a lot of other things with myself that didn't work out for me.
And then came this fighting rotation, from a girl who didn't move from the shelter for a whole day because there was an alarm yesterday in Nir Am, now I am working shifts, take a shower, prepare food and laugh during an operation.
So true, it wasn't a very exciting operation, but for me it was my personal 'money time', to really test myself.
There I realized that I had acheived a closure.
As hard, emotional and frustrating as this place is, it can teach you a lot about yourself.
To be good friends with 20 girls who are so different from you.
Dividing your attention, as a person with ADHD, overcoming your biggest fears while mice are running between your legs on duty and instead of abandoning I yealled 'help!' awkwardly.
And the worst? Learning to get along with Taylor Swift fangirls.
Being spontaneous, because who knows who will decide not to come tomorrow.
There is a lot of oppurtunities to develop mental strength and self-care here.
I'm proud that you were a huge part of my experience here, without you it really wouldn't have been the same and I'm not saying it as a cliché.
The laughs in the shifts and after, the excessive meals at eight in the morning, the mezuzah installation party, the slang that is only ours and all this union of ours makes it so special.
Special thanks to Noa, Margaret and Ronnie who have been here since the beginning. Thank you for who you are for me. If they took me back, I would do exactly the same process, of course better, but the same concept.
So it's true, our job doesn't have such a glamorous name and it'snot the most coveted job in the IDF, and now we got ugly berets, but the most dominant thing in our service are the girls.
The girls are everything. They are friends, the family, the spouse and the psychologist and in the best possible way.
Appreciate the girls you are with, try to be good with all of them or at least with most of them, do things for each other not to get something back, but truly from the heart.
I am proud of our group, we have a united, accepting and strong group that stands its ground and is there for each and every one.
So thank you, my friends, for being here when I needed you the most.
Thanks also for my commanders, Yam, Yael and Shir. Thank you for the light you bring to the operations room. You are the best commanders this rotation has ever known.
Thank you all for a time that I will remember for the rest of my life and it will always accompany me.
Don't forget that in the end even difficult times pass and in the end you only grow from them.
So thank you to each and every one of you for all the light you give me.
I love you all and hope you love me too.
I will remember you forever.
Princess Shachaf.

This commemorative page was compiled using the information sources below:

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