Some 15 victims of the deadly Thursday night attack in the Atzmonah pre-military yeshiva academy are still hospitalized in Soroka Hospital in Be\'er Sheva and Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Five 18-year-old students were murdered that night. Rabbi Rafi Peretz, head of the pre-military academy, shared with Arutz-7 today some of the emotions he is feeling at this time:
\"Today is truly a painful and difficult day, although the end of the day will be a very special experience, as all of the students will return to the yeshiva from wherever they are, from the funerals, from the families, from visiting the wounded - to be together here, to help and strengthen one another, and we will continue together... I am full of admiration for these wonderful children [who were killed], how much they strove for the truth, how much love of Torah they revealed in themselves over the past few months... When I speak to the parents, it\'s hard, it\'s hard for me as well, to explain how their sons were cut down in the middle of a Torah lesson. But I explain to them, and to myself, that we were learning about the Exodus from Egypt, which symbolizes our birth as a nation. As we say in the Haggadah of Pesach [the Passover liturgy], \"With your blood you shall live.\" [Now, again] we are being reborn, and it comes with very much blood. But there is a major difference between this blood and the blood we shed 60 years ago; this is the blood of re-birth...
\"[The attack] was not an attempt to strike out only at our students, but at the heart of the Nation of Israel - the heart is where Torah is studied… It\'s true that about a quarter of our students were wounded or killed - some have already been released from the hospital - but... I have no doubt at all that we will continue - and I am [also] referring to the entire nation - to live with greater strength. Our enemies think that because we stop for a moment to cry, that we are weak - but I can tell you clearly: We will continue with even greater strength.\" He said that no students have expressed a desire not to study in Atzmonah because of perceived dangers; \"the opposite is true, they are even more anxious to come and study here. It is gratifying to see this basic health among our students and their families.\"
\"Today is truly a painful and difficult day, although the end of the day will be a very special experience, as all of the students will return to the yeshiva from wherever they are, from the funerals, from the families, from visiting the wounded - to be together here, to help and strengthen one another, and we will continue together... I am full of admiration for these wonderful children [who were killed], how much they strove for the truth, how much love of Torah they revealed in themselves over the past few months... When I speak to the parents, it\'s hard, it\'s hard for me as well, to explain how their sons were cut down in the middle of a Torah lesson. But I explain to them, and to myself, that we were learning about the Exodus from Egypt, which symbolizes our birth as a nation. As we say in the Haggadah of Pesach [the Passover liturgy], \"With your blood you shall live.\" [Now, again] we are being reborn, and it comes with very much blood. But there is a major difference between this blood and the blood we shed 60 years ago; this is the blood of re-birth...
\"[The attack] was not an attempt to strike out only at our students, but at the heart of the Nation of Israel - the heart is where Torah is studied… It\'s true that about a quarter of our students were wounded or killed - some have already been released from the hospital - but... I have no doubt at all that we will continue - and I am [also] referring to the entire nation - to live with greater strength. Our enemies think that because we stop for a moment to cry, that we are weak - but I can tell you clearly: We will continue with even greater strength.\" He said that no students have expressed a desire not to study in Atzmonah because of perceived dangers; \"the opposite is true, they are even more anxious to come and study here. It is gratifying to see this basic health among our students and their families.\"