Sixteen year old Tom Hirshko was talking to his mom on his cell phone, telling her how happy he was to get a day off from school to be with his dad. A few moments later Tom and his father Mordechai met their doom as an Arab suicide bomber exploded a bomb on their Haifa bus.
“He called me from the bus and said he was on bus 37,” said his mother, Ruth Hirshko. “He was supposed to be in school, but they decided to go. He said he had something important to tell me. ‘I’ll tell you when I get back from Dad’ was the last thing I heard before I heard the explosion. I knew they were dead.”
Mrs. Hirshko said that her son sounded like the happiest boy in the world on that final call. She added that Tom loved his father very much and enjoyed spending time with him. “I spoke to Motti [who was divorced from his wife] when they were on the bus. Motti was a wonderful guy and a great father. He and Tom were as good friends as can be…As painful as it is, I’m happy they met their fate together, because up there I’m sure he’s watching over [Tom].
“He called me from the bus and said he was on bus 37,” said his mother, Ruth Hirshko. “He was supposed to be in school, but they decided to go. He said he had something important to tell me. ‘I’ll tell you when I get back from Dad’ was the last thing I heard before I heard the explosion. I knew they were dead.”
Mrs. Hirshko said that her son sounded like the happiest boy in the world on that final call. She added that Tom loved his father very much and enjoyed spending time with him. “I spoke to Motti [who was divorced from his wife] when they were on the bus. Motti was a wonderful guy and a great father. He and Tom were as good friends as can be…As painful as it is, I’m happy they met their fate together, because up there I’m sure he’s watching over [Tom].