Netzach Yehuda exercise
Netzach Yehuda exerciseYaakov Aflalo

Haredi soldiers from the Netzach Yehuda (Nahal Haredi) battalion conducted a battalion exercise in the Jordan Valley Thursday.

The exercise, called 'Closing Hour,' ended with a dinner for the entire battalion attended by hundreds of soldiers, battalion officers, battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Itamar Dashel, Battalion Rabbi Captain Shaul Avdiel, and the rabbis of the battalion who accompany the haredi soldiers and visit the bereaved families of fallen soldiers.

Rabbi Yitzchak Bar Haim, one of the rabbis of the 'Netzach Yehuda' battalion, addressed the soldiers. "It is on the merit and inheritance of our great forefather Abraham that we are here in the Land of Israel."

"You are the ones who sanctify God's name wherever you are. You fight the holy wars for the people of Israel. Abraham was called 'the Hebrew' (one who passes over) because everyone was on one side, and he was on the other. The whole world did not think like him, but he knew that the important thing is to believe in the Holy One, Blessed be He. He did not care what others think.

Rabbi Bar Haim told the soldiers, "My brothers and friends, you soldiers who came from all over the world and do not think about what others say about you. You are the followers of Abraham. He is the one who first brought the faith and the devotion to the people and the land of Israel. You are his grandchildren and his descendants, You are the force that bring bring about the messiah."

The battalion commander, Itamar Deshel, said at the dinner: "Both the wolf and the sheep sat together in Noah's Ark, both the tiger and the goat ... We, the soldiers and the commanders, must stand together against the challenges of the hour and show responsibility to one another, each man to his fellow, his family, his people."

"The experience of all the armies of the world since the dawn of history is that the fighting spirit is what leads to victory on the battlefield. That fighting spirit, mutual responsibility for each other, and camaraderie will lead us to victory," the battalion commander concluded.