Yehudit Nitzan, mother of Sergeant Gilad Nitzan, a Givati Brigade reconnaissance unit soldier who was killed in action in northern Gaza, tells Arutz Sheva - Israel National News that her son radiated a special spirit, that he had a big smile that opened hearts and built bridges, and that his character conveyed a message to everyone.
Gilad was born in a very complex year. "The year 2002 was a very difficult year. My cousin, Eran Pickar, was killed in a suicide bombing at Atzmona, then the Passover bombing at the Park Hotel, and then the Gavish family, our friends, and then friends from the community, were killed in a series of suicide bombings. I have been to many funerals and condolences and worried, asking which baby would be born to a mother who was sad and crying throughout her pregnancy," relates Yehudit and notes that Gilad was born on the second of Av, so his circumcision was on Tisha B'Av.
"We decided to call him Gilad Nehemya, meaning joy and comfort. We were given a joyful child, a baby who developed quickly with joy, with positive energy, with mischievousness and sweetness, which did not pass after childhood. He remained a boy with a big smile. People ask us if we chose only the pictures where he is smiling, and we said that it is simply him. We have a picture of him peeling potatoes in the army with a huge grin on his face."
The zest for life, relates Yehudit, led Gilad everywhere and opened doors for him. "When he comes with a big smile and an open heart without barriers, it immediately builds bridges and creates connections. He had impressive friendships with all sorts of guys, from the yeshiva high school in Dimona, from his scout troop in Shilo, he was connected to his charges and to all the youth in the settlement and to the adults as well. Someone told me that she liked to come to the synagogue on Friday night because she knew that when she came out of the service he would say Shabbat Shalom to her with a big smile. He had friends of course in the army and in the unit. He was the only one with peyot and a large kippah, and yet he was fully connected. He was a very good friend to older people, to young people, to children."
Gilad’s energy had a price in the academic arena, where there were deficits that "we were unable to pinpoint what they were," says Yehudit, noting that usually those with such deficits also clash and collide with the system and "with him it was amazing that he still loved it. He would come to school with a smile, take on responsibilities like the care of the school's petting zoo, which entailed responsibility on Shabbat, holidays, etc. He was also always a good friend of his teachers, rabbis and yeshiva heads, a very impressive connection."
The difficulty of persevering and studying continued when he entered yeshiva, which he loved very much, but because of the difficulty he came to an agreement with his rebbe and with the dean that during the day he would go out to work in gardening and during the evening he would return to the yeshiva. "Thus he maintained his connection with the world of Torah and holiness. He was connected to it despite working all day and choosing the three-year track in the paratroopers. On Simchat Torah he was in the yeshiva and from there he was called up."
Yehudit tells of Gilad as a counselor in the Bnei Akiva chapter in his town. "While it is customary that after Shabbat the youths spread their wings and break away from the counselor, Gilad announced to his youth group that he was an eternal counselor who had no intention of leaving them, and indeed he continued to accompany them through the period of choosing a high school and onward to the post-high school frameworks, despite the complexities of those ages."
Gilad added to Hillel's dictum in Ethics of the Fathers: "In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man," and added, "In a place where there are men, be first." "That part of the dictum he had to refine, that it was not a place of firstness of competitiveness, but of leadership and rallying to a task first." In this spirit was his behavior in the army as well. Friends and commanders related that there were less sympathetic tasks such as cleaning the latrines or maintaining the platoon's supply depot, and Gilad was the one who took these tasks upon himself, and at home he spoke of these tasks with great joy.
On the memorialization efforts being advanced by the family, Yehudit relates a decision by his comrades in the unit to establish a lookout point on Mount Kida, east of Shilo, "in his memory and in memory of Yehonadav who was killed with him in the battle along with Yehuda Cohen who was the company commander.” In addition, a Torah scroll is being written in his memory, and a youth center is being established to gather the older youth of the Bnei Akiva branch in the community and beyond, as well as providing therapeutic support for the youth. "The goal is to put the social activities of the youth in the center." The cornerstone for the youth center was laid on the holiday of Sukkot.
When asked to convey to us all a message in the spirit of Gilad, Yehudit, after a little thought, says: "To see the other without barriers and without judgment, as Gilad approached the other person without reference to external dress, age and condition, and saw the person as he was. Thus he approached and thus he was approached, and perhaps we too shall comport ourselves in our immediate surroundings and in the different environments from us. Look at the other person without barriers and wrappings, heart to heart, a primal connection, this is in my view an important message that we receive from Gilad."