Rabbi Yehoshua Van-Dyke, head of the yeshiva in Itamar, eulogized his student Uriel Aviad Silberman who fell in battle in Gaza.
"He loved Torah. We remember him fondly as the one who always made a good meal. Every Shabbat he baked, he made cakes and cookies, and was always personally concerned for the rabbis. When I came with my family, he would always bring the dips, he was very cordial, he made sure that the rabbi's family received everything. All the rabbis, women and children know him," eulogized Rabbi Van-Dyke.
He added: "After the Shabbat meal, he would always help clean the kitchen. He was always doing, but with modesty. When one of our rabbis, Rabbi Eliyahu Isaac, celebrated his birthday, he made him a cake that read: Torah, Torah, Torah - as a continuation of his words that there is nothing in the world outside of the Torah. He was very connected, caring, helpful and generous.”
"At the end of the army course, they chose three of their soldiers for the tank commanders course, and Leizo Deutsch from the Hesder Yeshiva Union said to them: 'There must be a mistake here, how come you didn't take Silberman. Maybe you read the wrong pages, he is the best guy in the yeshiva. You are making a huge mistake.' They thought about it and took him. He was one of the best."
Rabbi Van-Dyke spoke about his late student's struggle to serve in Gaza: "During the fighting he tried to enter Gaza. He was so determined that they let him be in the 'Merkava 4' tank even though he was trained in the 'Merkava 3.' They decided to take him and he brought his entire team in the yeshiva with him. They were called the Silberman team."
Finally, the rabbi spoke about Uriel's role in filtering phones in the yeshiva. Every year someone took it upon themselves to convince the first year students to put a filter on their phones and Uriel took responsibility for that.
Rabbi Avraham Caspi, a rabbi at the Itamar yeshiva, added: "Quite quickly we started putting responsibility on him for many things in the yeshiva. Without causing much attention, he entered the hearts of both the students and the rabbis. Uriel would pamper everyone. When he was on duty the yeshiva was like a restaurant. And he was a very diligent student. He thrived in his military course, the army benefited a lot from him and he always had a ‘twist’ in every article he wrote, showing us another facet in him."
"In the yeshiva he loved to sit and learn things in great depth. In one of the issues we learned about the laws of Sabbath, he inquired as high up as Rabbi Yaakov Ariel. He was always a big thinker and initiator, and his WhatsApp status says: 'Go all the way.' A quiet person, noble-minded, gentle, very present.