Lieutenant Ivri Dickshtein, killed in action in southern Lebanon, was laid to rest today on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.
Dickshtein was raised in the community of Eli and lived in Elazar. He married a year and three months ago and is survived by his wife Miriam, parents, and five siblings.
His father Ilan is a Colonel (res.) and former commander of the Etzioni Brigade and commander of the Golani Brigade reconnaissance unit. He was severely injured in Operation "Defensive Shield".
Dickshtein is the ninth fallen soldier raised in the community of Eli, and the street where he previously lived, Moriah, is home to the parents of two other fallen soldiers, Captain Shilo Rauchberger and Captain Roy Beit Yaakov.
Elazar, a Religious Zionist-populated town in Gush Etzion, has lost six of its residents, besides Dickshtein. Rinat Zagdon, 23, was murdered at the Supernova music festival on October 7, 2023, Staff Sgt. Hallel Shmuel Saadon, 21, was killed on October 7, 2023, while battling near Kibbutz Sufa, Sgt. Maj. (res.) David Schwartz, 26, was killed by anti-tank fire in Khan Yunis on January 8, Capt. (res.) Ariel Mordechay Wollfstal, 28, fell in battle in Gaza on January 23. , Sgt. Maj. (res.) Nahman Natan Hertz, 31, was killed in Metulla on June 5 in a Hezbollah drone strike, Staff Sgt. Dotan Shimon, 21, was killed in an explosion in Rafah on Sept. 17.
Head of the Benjamin Council Israel Ganz eulogized: "We lost Ivri, an officer among the best of Binyamin's sons, who was raised and educated here, fought as a hero, and fell for the protection of the people and the land. Our hearts are with Ivri's wife, his parents Ilan and Tzofia, and the whole family. We strengthen the residents of the community of Eli. The Eli community, together with the other communities of Binyamin, stands at the forefront of the war and pays a painful price for the revival of the people of Israel in their land."