When Hayim Katsman received his doctorate from the University of Washington in 2021, friends encouraged him to stay in the United States. He could build a good life there, they said, maybe even in Seattle, a city where his family had long roots.
Katsman, 32, was adamant. He wanted to return to Israel and the small commune where he had lived for years. He was committed to forging a more peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians. His dissertation was dedicated to “all life forms that exist between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”
Katsman was hiding in a closet with a neighbor, Avital Alajem, when militants overran the kibbutz. He was closest to the door, Alajem told CNN, and his body absorbed the bullets, protecting Alajem. “He was murdered,” Alajem said. “I was saved.”
Katsman was a rare combination, friends said. He was a gifted scholar but also a car mechanic, landscaper and DJ. He worked hard yet always had time for his friends, whether to help them move or catch up over a beer.
His mother, Hannah Wacholder Katsman, grew up in Cincinnati, while his father, Daniel Katsman, is from Seattle. The family moved to Israel in 1990, and Hayim, the second of six siblings, was born a year later.
A dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, Katsman won a prize for an academic paper he wrote about contemporary religious Zionism. “I really think his work helped illuminate some of the very dynamics that have brought us to this horrific moment,” said Liora Halperin, a historian at the University of Washington. “There are many pieces to this puzzle, but he had devoted years of his life trying to understand some of the pieces.”
In the first days after the attacks, his mother was unable to arrange her son’s funeral amid the chaos of so many deaths. But she knew one thing. He “wouldn’t want this conflict to be used to kill innocent people,” she said. “He would want this conflict to end as soon as possible.”
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