(Fifth in Salt of the Earth series about the lives of IDF soldiers who fell in the Swords of Iron War). Amitai Granot’s engagement party to Roni Levinson took place on the first day of Chol Hamoed (The Intermediate Days of) Sukkot this year. “It is still hard for me to look at the photos of the party,” his father says sadly. Four days later Amitai reported for reserve duty. On Thursday, his tank was moved to Shtula, a community located in an area bordering Lebanon, and within a day the 'tankists' were battling Hezbollah. IDF Lieutenant Amitai Tzvi Granot had been called up to duty as a squad commander in the 75th Brigade of the Sa’ar Migolan Division ( the legendary Chativa 7). One week after the October 7th massacre, on the 30th of Tishrei, October 15th, when fears of a similar attack from the north led to extra vigilance on the borders, he was killed by an anti-tank missile launched at his outpost on the Lebanon Border. He was 24 years old. One of seven children born to Avivit and Rabbi Tamir Granot, Rosh Yeshiva at Orot Shaul Hesder Yeshiva in Tel Aviiv, Amitai grew up in the Golan on Moshav Yonatan where his parents lived at the time and where he attended primary school. He then studied at the Chispin Yeshiva High School, where, like many young Israelis who love their land, he was at home in every nearby wadi and natural spring. He went on to the post high school yeshiva at Beit Shean, enlisting in the IDF tank corps in 2020. His family had moved to Tel Aviv when he was 18, but the north was where he loved to be. Amitai Granot Hy"d and his parents courtesy After studying Torah for 3 years he enlisted in the IDF through the hesder program and took a tank commander course, returning to the yeshiva he loved for 3 months in the summer. At this point, he had to decide whether to continue learning or go on to officers training. He went to speak to his Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Eitan Zucker, who suggested he remain in the yeshiva where he was in the high level Kollel that studied Gemara “be’iyun” (in depth Talmudic analysis), because the rabbi felt that this sensitive, music-loving student was more suited for intellectual pursuits than for being an officer. In fact, the family said, the first thing Amitai would do upon coming home on leave was to put away his weapons and sit down to play the piano. “His fingers were cracked and lined with black grease like those of every tank commander, but that did not affect the gentleness of his soul, the spiritual way he played,” mourned a friend. “He reminded me of King David, who led Israel to victory, but played the harp.” Still, his IDF commander saw other traits and, naturally, urged the opposite. Amitai decided that he could always elect to return to yeshiva but that he would go to officers training first for two years to better help defend his country. “The last time I spoke to him,” Rabbi Tamir said, “he sounded tense and exhausted. He had spent the entire week in his tank. He was tense because some of his army friends had been killed or taken hostage in the south on October 7th. He was adamant that he would not stop until they were returned." " On Sunday, at 3 a.m., he spoke to Roni for two hours and said: ‘Let’s not wait three and a half months. Let’s just put up a chuppah and get married the next time I come home on leave. After all, the bride and groom are here, we have a rabbi. So there are no problems.’ She was happy to agree. Had it been a voluntary war, he would have been exempt halakhically as he was engaged to be married, but this was an existential war (a milchemet mitsva ) and halakhah demands that even a groom leave the chuppah to fight for Am Yisrael.” Photo: Lt. Amitai Granot Hy"d /Courtesy of the family On 15.10. the 30th of Tishrei he drank his usual black coffee at 10 a.m, kept warm on the tank. Hezbollah terrorists launched a rocket towards Shtula which killed a foreign worker and since he and his tank were first in line, they went to assess the situation. Driving up to the highest position they could reach, they identified a terrorist group 500 meters away and eliminated it. They went up again and eliminated another group. Amitai decided to go up a third time to be sure there were no more terrorists, stuck his head out of the tank to look and two seconds before the tank went back down, an antitank missile launched from 5 km away hit him. Amitai died as bravely as he lived. Afterwards, the IDF told the family that in the days prior to his death, his tank had killed 15 terrorists, taken part in several battles and eliminated two jeeps filled with terrorists. In the summer of 2023, Amitai was the commander at Har Dov and while there, met Roni Levinson from Kfar Hassidim. At their engagement, he spoke of his desire to build a home with Roni that would be their personal haven, but also serve the nation he loves. He described his hopes to blend the two values - and that is the way he lived his life, and that is the way it ended. Tens of thousands watched and listened to Amitai’s funeral, thousands managed to find a place to stand on Mount Herzl (watch it here) . Rabbi Tamir, whose doctorate dealt with Jewish rebirth after the Holocaust, had just published an article that connected the lack of preparedness for the October 7th massacre to his grandmother’s telling them how there were Jews who saw the smoke rising at Auschwitz and deluding themselves, concluded it was bread being baked in the ovens. I knew in my heart, she had said to him, but my mind could not process the inhumanity, could not shake my faith in people. His voice choked with tears, Rav Tamir cried: “Ribbono shel Olam, how can it be that in Your world, a Jewish child born and raised in Eretz Yisrael, whose grandfather said ‘Raise this child for his father and mother’ at his brit, has fallen…My son, you died to sanctify God’s name, you are a korban tzibur. But my grief is not the whole story. All around us strong lights are shining. We are broken, our hearts are hollow, we are in darkness, but there will be light. I sustained a personal loss in this battle, but the Jewish people will win the war.” “Our Father in Heaven, raise the banner of your people. Ribono shel olam, decide that we have had enough tribulations. Enough, enough. I tried for unity in this nation before Simchat Torah and didn’t succeed. Now we are all together - at funerals. Let us not go back to the controversies, they weakened us. “God has given and God has taken, May God’s Name be blessed.” And Rav Tamir ended: “My son, a rocket hit you, but I know, I saw inside myself that fire came out of the heavens and took your soul up on high, where the great light of your soul brightens the entire universe.” May all of the Jewish People be blessed by those rays of light. Watch: Rav Tamir Granot and the students at Hesder Yeshiva Orot Shaul where he is Rosh Yeshiva sing "Mimkomcha" with singer Yonatan Razel in Amitai's memory.