Hundreds of family members and friends took part on Monday evening in the funeral of Sergeant Ori Itzchak Hadad, a student of the Hesder yeshiva in Itamar and a soldier from the Nahal Brigade, who fell in combat in Rafah.
Hadad was laid to rest at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
Ori’s father, Rabbi Zion, eulogized him and said, "I am neither a man of words nor a man of eulogies. Thank God for your pure innocence. For the fact that you united a special group around you. You were convinced of the rightness of your path."
He recalled their last conversation. "Yesterday when I spoke to you, you sounded so great, you said, 'Everything is fine, dad, thank God'. Throughout the war, you sent us videos of you singing and chanting in a moving way. You were a special boy, sweeter than honey. The longing for you only grows stronger."
Ori’s mother, Chava, eulogized him and said, "My Or, a sweet, quiet redhead, always with a smile on his face. Always says the right thing. Nothing was too big for you. You wanted to fight in Gaza and you didn't give up, you wanted to take part. Your voice reached the chair of honor, how much you loved to play and sing with angels."
She added, "As a mother, I join the bereaved family in this difficult time for the people of Israel, and we will not give up. The unity between us will spread a lot of light in the nation, which will become a light from your light, Ori."
His older sister recalled a conversation she had with him recently. "At one of our siblings’ meetings, I said that I want us to be together more because I don't want to feel like I missed something. But Ori, despite everything, I feel like I missed something. A sense of missing something and of pain that I won't get to see you under the chuppah, that my children won't get to play with your children, that we won't get to sing with you on Fridays and Saturday nights anymore."
His brother Yishai, who also fought in Gaza, eulogized, "At the start of the war I was afraid that something would happen to you. I told you that I was watching over you, but you were the one who watched over me. You acted like the big brother. Thank you for watching over me. Thank you for being the big brother of the people of Israel. You gave your soul for your brothers, for our country, for people you don't know. Sorry I couldn't protect you, little brother, sorry I couldn't protect you like you protected me. I love you and miss you already."