IDF Master Sgt. (Res.) Shlomo Aviad Neiman of Mitzpe Yericho fell in Lebanon on October 23, 2024 at the age of 31. He left a wife, Shir, and four young children, parents and siblings.
G-d has given and G-d has taken away. May G-d’s Name be blessed.
Thank you, Lord of the Universe, for granting us the privilege to be the messengers who brought this great soul into the world.
Thank you for every minute we merited, Eli and I, to be his parents. And we ask your forgiveness, dearest Aviadush, if we harmed something, if we hurt you or if there is something you lacked because of us.
From your childhood on, there was never something you wanted to do that you did not accomplish. When you were a little boy, you wanted an ice cream machine, and you managed to convince Savta (Grandmother) Rochel to buy you one, and to arrive at our house the next day to give it to you.
When you wanted juggling equipment, you managed to convince Savta Shoshana to go to Tel Aviv with you to the store Elchanan Weisel Hy”d had told you carried it. When you wanted a unicycle, you somehow succeeded in convincing us to buy one within 24 hours.
We always knew that nothing could stand in the way of your will.
As you got older, the things you wanted matured with you, and you learned to acquire them yourself and to enlist everyone you could to help you fulfill your dreams. You wanted to transform a neglected hill to a vacation area, and with Yedidya, Avi and Gili, you actually did so. You wanted to transform a lot filled with caravans to an attractive, well-kept community and convinced everyone to begin first and foremost with a shul, then to go on to pave the area and build a sports field.
You even advanced the plans for a pool and the new neighborhood that is about to be built in our community.
And just as we, your parents, could not stand in the way of your initiatives, neither could anyone who knew you. Somehow, the sparkle in your eyes, your humor, ready wit and powers of persuasion convinced everyone to join you in fulfilling all your dreams.
You always went full speed ahead, as if you knew that you had to take advantage of every minute. You did the work of several people. You were involved in so many things simultaneously, and everywhere you went, you were the one who initiated, organized, planned and pushed forward.
You were named Shlomo Aviad, for my late father Shlomo, and you were so perfect, so shalem. I could never understand how you managed to be active in so many fields, and never miss a day’s Torah learning with Chagai, continue to achieve the learning goal so set for yourself and to help at home. You even found time to trek the paths of the land you loved so much.
You were shalem spiritually and shalem in the physical world. A man of action whose source was your connection to G-d, to people and your limitless desire to do good. And all this combined with your enjoyment of life, with trips on jeeps and other terrain vehicles.
You told Shir, with your characteristic humor, that if something happens to you, she should not sell your ATV. But what you really meant by those words was: Choose life, continue enjoying it, travel, don’t give up on the fun and happiness life has to offer.
Dear and much-loved Shir, Chagai, Tsuria, Carmi and Refael, beloved children, daughters and sons-in-law, grandchildren -
We are all asking ourselves the same question. How do we go on?
The Torah says “choose life” and it says “you are all with us today.”
The future can only be imagined, it is a creation of our minds, the past is over and done, life is today and only today.
All we need to do is decide to choose to seize the day.
Because we must, because we have to, because we can not live as if we have no other alternative
We have to arise each day, each morning, and decide: Today I chose life! Today I have decided to be happy!
And we need to repeat that every morning.
Shmini Atzeret is a day of communing with G-d, the day that is added to the seven days of Sukkot,
“A day that is above nature,” a day on which “the King has brought me into His abode.”
Your great light, once held in an earthly vessel, is now pure light. You have moved from being our son to being the son of all the People of Israel,
From shedding light only on those near you to casting light on everyone.
On this day, our beloved Shlomo Aviad, you ascended to the Heavens, to commune with the Lord of the Universe, to be close to His Seat of Glory.
In birth and death, man moves from one life to another. That is why the word for life, “chaim” in Hebrew, is in plural form. Aviadush, you continue to live, but in a different form.
Parts of you are embedded in our family’s hearts, and in the hearts of many others. You are still here, with us, because of those people, and you will be with us forever.
We will transform this crisis into one from which we grow and create.
Into the hole in our hearts we will put infinite love for G-d and for every one of our people
We will fill the loss by continuing your works
We will let the Holy One wipe away our tears
And we will allow ourselves to be consoled by G-d and for the sake of the Holiness of His Name.
In the name of all the souls of our people, those who live and those who have died since the creation of the world and on to the end of time -
I hereby accept G-d’s decree with equanimity, with love and happiness, in the clear knowledge that everything G-d does is for the absolute good, that G-d runs His world with kindness and mercy
I pray for the recovery of all the wounded, for success in protecting all our soldiers and security forces, for the return of all the hostages to their families whole and in good health, for comfort to all the bereaved families and recovery from trauma for all of our people, to inner peace for all of us, with our families and those around us, for the complete Redemption to arrive soon in kindness and mercy.
(Translated from Hebrew by Rochel Sylvetsky.)