Rabbi Yoram Eliyahu, father of Sergeant first class (res.) Yedidya Eliyahu, of Karnei Shomron, who fell in battle in Gaza, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News during the special broadcast for Yom Hazikaron (Remembrance Day for the Fallen Soldiers of the Wars of Israel and Victims of Actions of Terrorism).
First, he emphasized his reservations about the use of the word ‘bereavement,’ "We are not the families of bereavement, but the families of heroism. If you call it bereavement, it already has a negative effect on you, and this is not the right message that we should be conveying to the people of Israel. I say this both personally and nationally, the purpose of the Heroism Forum is to bring life back to the people of Israel, until we achieve our military victory and the collapse of Hamas.”
"We are not experiencing in some case of cot death or in an accident. We have set out to avenge the blood of our Jewish brothers and sisters that has been shed, to avenge the humiliation of Simchat Torah. My son Yedidya would say to his soldiers: 'I am led in war by the statement: ‘I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till I destroyed them.' We need to destroy the enemy," he said.
Along with the great pain of his son's death, Rabbi Eliyahu says that he encouraged his daughter-in-law to remarry and continue her life. "The fact that my daughter-in-law remarried shows that 'with their death they commanded us to live.' They want us to live and that is for their benefit and honor. From the first moment we supported her and told her that after a year we would begin the journey. We see the children with someone to be there for them and it gives us great joy. These are our grandchildren and we truly feel that she has 'chosen life.'"
He also commented on dealing with their loss. "From the first moment we cried a lot. It is a natural human emotion and there is not a day that we do not see his image before us. My wife and I talk about it a lot. At our daughter in law’s wedding we cried, but it was not a cry of pain but a cry of purification. Every heartbreak has a purpose. 'Yom Hazikaron is a day of brokenness, meriting Independence Day,' he concluded.