The Bnei David IDF Preparatory Yeshiva, known as the Eli Mechina, was the first pre-military prep-school established in Israel.
The Preparatory, established by Rabbi Eli Sadan and Rabbi Yigal Levinstein in the town of Eli, is also the preparatory school with the highest number of soldiers fallen in IDF service.
For over 30 years, the Eli Mechina has produced some of the highest quality and most prominent officers in many diverse positions in the IDF, and during the course of the preparations thousands of graduates passed the officers' course and today there are dozens of senior officers in active IDF duty, including the Prime Minister's two military secretaries, Brigadier General Ofer Winter and Brigadier General Avi Blut.
The memorial wall in the Eli Mechina building is impressive and excites every visitor, with names that have become legends in Israeli society, including: Emanuel Moreno, Hadar Goldin, Roy Klein, Eliraz Peretz, Ehud Fogel, and other IDF fallen from all over the country.
This year, the Mechina appealed to friends of the school's 25 fallen, and after particularly intense and exciting labor of love, collected 25 stories written by alumni about 25 Mechina fallen, ranging from the Mechina's second class with the late Yosef Ohana, the late Asher Ezra, and the late Emanuel Moreno, to the late Yishai Rivlin, who was killed in January 2019.
25 for 25'is a unique project that combines the stories of Israel's first preparatory school graduates over the years and will appear in its entirety on Eli Mechina's Facebook page, every hour will be uploaded a story written by a friend about his fallen comrade.
Bnei David Director Lior Shtul said "The Mechina's rabbis, teachers, and directors over the years have been in constant contact with the bereaved families and the many graduates who contribute to the State in education in academia, economics, and of course security. The good relationship with the graduates and between the graduates and the bereaved families resulted in this unique project that gives a little bit different angle about each of the Mechina's fallen. Some of the stories about the fallen are told here for the first time in this way by the alumni and it's exciting to read about the special character of the heroes who fell while protecting the country since the founding of the Mechina."
