Hundreds of new recruits gathered at military induction centers across the country Wednesday morning as they officially began their service in the Border Police and IDF’s paratrooper units.
One of the new draftees was Assaf Yifrach, the younger brother of Eyal Yifrach, one of three Israeli teens who was kidnapped and murdered by Arab terrorists in Gush Etzion in 2014.
Assaf’s parents, Iris and Uri, and his siblings escorted him to the induction center in Tel Hashomer in central Israel.
Speaking with Army Radio, Assaf said he felt his service in the army would bring him closer to the memory of his fallen brother.
“This lets me make his [memory] come alive; Eyal is with me wherever I go, even now to the paratroopers’ brigade.”
“It is at these times of pain, when we feel we’re missing something, of yearning for [a lost loved one] that we remember every moment our decision to live, and this morning is just that kind of choice.”