Shmuel Hazon’s sweater rests on a rack in the center of his empty apartment. After losing his son in a terror attack, he jumped to his death from the seventh floor.
Petah Tikva, Israel.
Mordechai Zilberman, wearing the jacket of his late partner Aryeh, sits for a portrait. Jerusalem, Israel.
The couple were together for sixty years, navigating Aryeh’s dementia and lingering trauma from the Holocaust. On Aryeh’s eighty-eighth birthday, his condition worsened at home. Mordechai chose not to seek help, telling him he could “rest.” That night, Aryeh passed away.
Mordechai now often wears Aryeh’s clothes to feel close to him.
An organized setting of the covered car of Moshe Etzion, who took his own life at the age 88. Kfar Monash, Israel.
The photographer covered the car to symbolize Jewish shrouds, the traditional burial cloth in which a body is wrapped before burial.
Smadar Halperin sits in the beloved car of her father, Moshe Etzion, who took his own life age 88. Kfar Monash, Israel.
After losing his son in the 2014 Gaza War, Moshe chose compassion—volunteering to drive Palestinian patients from Gaza to hospitals in Israel.
Following surgery, he was no longer allowed to drive. Struggling with the loss of independence, he ended his life at his son’s grave.
Three sisters—Almog, Sapir, and Inbar Paz—float in the waters of their childhood beach. A day after visiting this beach, their mother, Sara Paz, took her own life at age 59.
Caesarea, Israel.
A daughter of Holocaust survivors, Sara endured a difficult upbringing and long
struggled with depression. Despite her daughters’ support, she chose to end her life.
The gun of Moshe Etzion. He took his own life at the age of 88 with this gun. It was owed by his son, who got killed in Israel-Gaza War in 2014. Ofakim, Israel.
Yael Ben Ari stands in her family’s abandoned estate, wearing her mother’s scarf and necklace.
Kfar Neter, Israel.
It was here that her mother, Zipora, took her own life at age 63.
Sara (Sari) Paz’s shoes placed in her home. Pardes Hanna, Israel.
Sara took her own life in the bathtub at age 59.
Michal and Yosef Shatsky, both age 88, pose in their home. Kibbutz Magen, Israel.
Inspired by her parents, who ended their lives together in old age out of fear of aging-related decline, Michal wish to do the same in Switzerland. Her husband, Yosef, supports her
decision, though he fears the pain of being left alone.
Left: Shmuel Hazon with his daughter Michal. Photo by an unknown photographer.
Right: Michal Shmueli Hazon, holding her father’s sweater, stands by the window where Shmuel jumped to his death at age 86. Petah Tikva, Israel.
After losing his son in a terror attack, Shmuel found purpose in volunteering. But COVID-19
isolation eroded his sense of purpose. Struggling with grief, he ended his life.
Moshe Etzion’s suicide note. Nirim, Israel.
The note was found by his family in an atlas.
In his final message, he wrote:
“…I say goodbye to all of you with love.
Death does not scare me.
I always wanted to die when my legs still carried me, and my head was clear.”
He took his own life at age 88
Shemuel and Rina Hazon’s empty bedroom. Petah Tikva, Israel.
New tenants will soon fill the space and begin their own story.