Two and a half years after the public uproar that erupted after the death of Ahuvia Sandak, a Hilltop Youth who died after the car he was in was struck by a police vehicle during a police pursuit, the Sandak family will be moving to the hilltop community of Maoz Esther, near Kochav Hashachar, in the Binyamin region.
The Sandak couple, who will leave their home in Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion, will move to live in Maoz Esther along with their six children and will join ten other families who live in a place that has been undergoing an accelerated absorption and development process in recent years.
The Sandak family made the challenging decision out of a desire to "continue and implement the legacy of their loved one in the field", as they put it.
"The hills don't belong only to young people," said Avraham Sandak, the father of Ahuvya, with a smile while building the house, which is already in advanced stages.
"The circle of activists in the hills is only expanding over the years, and today you can find several families on each hill, some in their 30s. Our goal is to show the people of Israel that families of any age with a little dedication and love for the land can join the important activity of safeguarding the homeland ours," he added.
"Ahuvya was a very special child who already had the fire of love for the country burning in him from a young age," Sandak continues. "At the age of 15, he decided to leave the yeshiva he studied in the nearby settlement, following the realization that he was now required there as a soldier in the campaign."
"At the same time as setting times for the Torah, Ahuvya went out to the pasture with the flock of sheep to guard the lands in the area and would come back not once or twice wet to the bone from the rain. He and his friends repeatedly built the houses on the farm, which at that time suffered from repeated demolition and was then at the beginning of its journey. With dedication and perseverance, with a personal sacrifice that was not easy, Ahovya built the farm together with his friends, which today is much more developed and established," the father points out.
According to him, "Settling in the hills, apart from settlement and preservation of the land, is in our eyes the raising of the next moral and spiritual stature of the people of Israel. The stature of a country out of holiness, a country out of faith, a country that lives and acts according to God's way. In the hills of G-d, we already live this way in adherence to His way and His teachings and in behaving according to Him without question. The decision to move to live in Maoz Esther was largely also due to the desire to be part of such a community."
"The hill here is the living testament that Ahuvya left behind. His legacy continues to accompany the residents here in a campaign that is far from over. After two and a half years of fighting to bring justice to light and supporting from afar the activity in the hills, we decided to join the residents in the field and fight shoulder-to-shoulder with them in the campaign. We invite everyone whose love of the country pulsates in his heart to come and join as well," Avraham Sandak concluded.