Gaya Oren (17) Killed on Her Way to the Bomb Shelter: Her Friends From the Scouts Say Goodbye

Gaya Oren, a 17-year-old 12th-grade student from Ness Ziona, was run over and killed last Thursday while rushing to a bomb shelter when an alarm sounded at Rehovot Science Park. The police suspect that the tragic accident was caused by drunk driving by the driver, whose arrest was extended the following day. Beyond the painful circumstances of her death, her friends and fellow scouts want to remember who she was—a lively girl and a pillar in her braqnch of the Scouts movement.

Oren was a scout and later a prominent counselor in the branch. "I had the privilege of knowing Gaya as both a scout and a counselor," says Evyatar Benyamini (20), a graduate of the branch who led her during leadership course when she was in ninth grade, and mentored her this year as she became a course counselor herself. "She was the kind of scout who would ask her counselor how they were doing. Even back in ninth grade, and I’m sure even before then, she was sensitive and caring toward everyone around her, even within a three-kilometer radius."

Oren receives the neckerchief from Benyamini, symbolizing her selection to lead the counselor training preparatory course (Photo: Private album).

Gaya began her path in the movement much earlier. "I have known Gaya since first grade," says Tamar Zahavi (17), Oren's good friend, who served on the same counseling staff with her. "In fourth grade I invited her to come with me to the Scouts because my brothers were in the Scouts, and she came along. In middle school we liked to act out series we watched like [the Israeli TV Shows] 'The Island' and 'The Greenhouse.'"

The counselor training course in ninth grade is considered a significant milestone in the life of every scout, and for Oren, it was also a defining moment. "That’s where I first met her," Benyamini recalls. That course marked a turning point in Oren’s relationship with the Scouts. "There was a feeling among the staff leading the course that we might miss out on Gaya’s potential, so we gave her responsibility over building the carousel ride at the Purim festival," says Benyamini. The ride, built entirely from ropes and wooden poles for the Purim activities, required a great deal of effort. "She took on the mission very seriously," Zehavi adds. "At that point, she discovered herself and her commitment to the Scouts."

Benyamini adds with a smile a small detail from that time: "Besides, I don't want to make any grand proclamations or anything, but we assigned her current boyfriend to be in charge of the carousel along with her. So, it's possible we did all sorts of good things."

Gaya and her friends from the counselor training preparatory course. "She was caring and looked out for everyone around her" (Photo: Private album).

This year, Oren closed the circle by leading the counselor training preparatory course for the current ninth-grade class herself, alongside Zehavi. Benyamini, as a graduate of the chapter, mentored them in the role. "Unfortunately, it’s a closing of the circle that was cut short," he shares painfully. Zehavi describes her friend’s counseling style: "The team that Gaya worked on is one that operates very intensively throughout the year, and yet it was important to Gaya that we sit and talk things through, apologize for what was necessary, and learn from mistakes to be better. As she put it—'for the sake of shalom bayit (clearing the air, group cohesion)."

As a counselor, Oren did not hesitate to bring dilemmas from her personal life to enrich the world of her students. "We led an activity about the 'Israeli Shabbat'," Zehavi recalls. "For Gaya, the message was that Shabbat is a sacred day, and that there are different ways to mark it: whether through traditional Shabbat observance at her mother's house, or through trips to the Golan Heights with her father."

"Gaya took on the mission very seriously." Gaya in twelfth grade, with her ninth-graders in the counselor training preparatory course (Photo: Private album).

Alongside her depth and value-driven messages, Oren was gifted with an extraordinary zest for life that she loved to share with her students. "We hold a Scout dance session after every activity day on Fridays," Zehavi says. "And Gaya was always dancing with the participants, grabbing a student and spinning them around. She would do these strange dances that only she could do, which simply swept everyone up."

The void she left behind is deeply felt throughout the entire Scouts movement. "During her entire Shiva, 60 out of 100 members of the chapter’s senior leadership body were there," Benyamini concludes. "For each one of them, in their eyes, Gaya was their best friend. That’s just who she was—caring and looking out for everyone around her."