Tzeela Gez was on her way to deliver her fourth child on Wednesday, May 14, when a terrorist fired at her car from the roadside by the West Bank settlement of Bruchim where she lives. Her husband was lightly injured, and she was taken to the hospital, where her baby was delivered in an emergency C-section. Doctors fought to save her for hours but Gez, 33, didn’t make it. Her baby is still in the hospital, in serious but stable condition.
This Thursday in Jerusalem, her husband and many across Israel, including a group of labor and delivery nurses, came to the Givat Shaul Cemetery in Jerusalem to say their goodbyes to her.
“You were the light of my life,” her husband told the crowd, “the biggest gift I’ve ever gotten. I stand here torn but thanking God that I got to spent 11 years with you. You were a woman of endless compassion. A true hero.” He continued: “You raised three sweet kids with love, dedication and warmth and we almost had another baby together. It’s important for me to ask for your forgiveness for not always doing the most. I could’ve been more supportive and more respectful of you… I want to tell our dear son who was born as he was orphaned from his mother, I love you my sweetheart. Your mother waited for you so much. She had a very difficult pregnancy and she did everything so you could grow in peace and happiness.”
Gez spent her time trying to help women deal with anxiety. Her Instagram, which has a little over three thousand followers, shows her sharing little tips to help people deal with the pressures of daily life. Her tips are accessible and kind: Can’t quite get that daily walk you’ve been wanting to do for ages in? Incorporate it into a kids’ activity like riding bikes. Stuck in the car waiting for someone to move? Use it as an opportunity to rest and connect. She counseled those experiencing anxiety on how to use their bodies as an anchor, modeling breath exercises and sharing other little tricks to help them out of spirals.
In one video, Gez shows herself walking into her home, overburdened with bags, seeming exhausted. She sighs. “Life is suffering, it makes sense that we’re suffering, we learned to suffer in silence, we learned that it’s OK, to the point that entire years go by and we don’t live life to the fullest,” her voiceover says.
“It doesn’t have to be like that,” she then tells her audience. “We don’t choose our suffering, but we can choose what to do with it.” She then shows herself treating herself to a little iced coffee, taking the time to dance as it brews, taking a moment to rest while drinking that drink. “We’re allowed to feel good,” she tells those watching at home and urges them to “start with little steps and take care of yourself.” In taking those steps, she says, “our suffering can take on another face, it can change and shift. So what do you say, why don’t you start caring for yourself?” Her voice is filled with genuine care.
“I get to see every day people with so much beauty, so much strength, so much power, people who sometimes forget how beautiful they are, they open up about moments that are so painful to them and behind all that there is so much beauty and depth,” Gez reflected about her work and patients in one post.
Gez was clearly a beautiful person who cared so deeply for others. We’re praying for an end to the suffering in the region, and to senseless deaths like hers. May her memory be for a blessing.
